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October 15, 2008
Afghanistan 2008
As the American casualties there now exceed those in Iraq, is it time to take a new look at the war in Afghanistan? I think that any new strategy there must take into account the following realities:
1. The original intent of the Afghan incursion--to eliminate Al Qaeda--failed. Osama bin Laden is not there anymore. Our mission in that country today, if there is a mission, can only be to stop a reactionary and violent government-in-exile from returning.
2. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan is a NATO operation. We must be a team player. This includes when the "team" decides to use tactics that our government may not second, such as negotiation. Moreover, the US cannot maintain a high profile. Fair or not, it is our face that is associated with invasion, an unpopular act regardless of your politics.
3. We can no longer do it on the cheap. We cannot afford to place all our best resources (troops, intelligence, materiel) a thousand kilometers to the East and expect good results in Afghanistan.
4. There is no easy route to "success" in Afghanistan. Lobbing bombs at suspected targets does not work. The Taliban always seems to be able to reinforce, by bringing in zealots from Pakistan or farther afield. The hearts and minds of the Afghan people are in finite supply, however. The civilian casualties our airborne assaults routinely yield poison far more of those than any number of terrorists we "take out."
Posted by hockey at October 15, 2008 10:07 AM