Posted on 08/27/2009 9:44:18 AM PDT by neverdem
IN Kabul these days, those wishing to sound knowledgeable fire one phrase at visiting reporters: "This has no military solution!" One hears it from President Hamid Karzai, UN "experts" and diplomats. Yet they appear stuck when asked: What precisely is the "this" that has no military solution?
If pressed, they offer various answers: Afghanistan's poverty, gender inequality, corruption, the drug trade, ethnic rivalries and intrigues by rival...
--snip--
An old proverb goes: You can't buy an Afghan, but you can always hire him. More than 150,000 armed ex-mujahedeen are waiting on the sidelines. The policy of shunning them, and branding their leaders as "warlords," is foolish.
We also have the 180,000 or so members of the new Afghan army and police. Often, these men draw their salaries but spend their time doing the crosswords or at best directing the traffic in Kabul. But experts suggest a third of the army is reliable and competent; embedding them with NATO forces could give them a role in taking the war to the insurgents.
On the other side? The drug-smuggling rings have 15,000 armed men, often cooperating with the Taliban, whose own strength may be 20,000.
Smaller insurgent groups, such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb Islami (Islamic Party) may command a further 5,000 armed men. Yet Hekmatyar worked for the CIA for years, and recently made it clear that he is open to offers.
In a hierarchy of operations, the Taliban is the top target. This could mean making tactical alliances even with some unsavory armed groups, and buying others.
Afghanistan has a military problem that needs a military solution. US strategists are starting to realize that. This war could and must be won. There is no need to panic and cry for an "exit strategy" even before there has been any real fighting.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Good article.
We “won” in Iraq when we took out Saddam and his military establishment. We lost when we got caught up in a nation-building experiment to create a democratic government there.
We lost lives and money fruitlessly.
We can “win” in Afghanistan by destroying the Taliban. We will loose if we try to repeat our Iraqi adventure.
The author of this piece is probably a Muslim.
The fact of the matter is that the common thread running through Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, among other places, is Islam. And that thread has not changed in centuries.
Unlike the west, which has evolved into a civilized society, Islamdom gets progressively worse - more violent, more intolerant and more anarchic. It has, in its long history, CONTINUALLY spwaned radical, violent, brutal extremist movements. And it can't help itself. It will continue to do so. Its very founder and his founding documents generate this behavior.
So, our philosophy should be to devastate and to isolate, not to redeem. We should devastate any Islamic regime which threatens the west, and isolate ourselves from Muslims to the best degree possible. Maybe in time, they will civilize themselves and abandon the Koran. But until that happens, we will be as successful in converting Islamic nations into Democracies as turning rock into gold.
Ultimately, only the Muslims themselves can civilize themselves. Its their problem and they need to deal with it. We don't. We just need to make sure as few of them as possible are in the west, and eliminate their governments and rulers when they become troublesome.
I agree totally and for the reasons you stated. If we nuked Fubarstan I would still sleep soundly at night.
A rare moment of disagreement with Taheri, or at least a qualification. Just as in Iraq, there is a considerable security risk inherent in upgrading indigenous troops' armaments to a parity with our own and teaching them our own battle tactics. It may have to be borne, but it's still a risk. And such hirings do tend to have end of contract involved at some point. We want it to be their Afghanistan by then, but that's also a risk.
That said, it's a war, not a civil disturbance, fueled and supplied by outside funding and enjoying sanctuary areas more or less protected by international law. The more warlike a war, the less those restrictions are adhered to. Pakistan isn't going to like it, but it's coming.
“If we nuked Fubarstan I would still sleep soundly at night”
So would I.
“If we nuked Fubarstan I would still sleep soundly at night”
So would I.
BRAVO-well said sir.
I've had a similar thought calling for a quarantine around Islam. Unfortunately, too many economies depend on cheap energy.
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Thanks for the ping!
The military solution for Afghanistan is for the US to leave. And the same for Iraq. We should leave both at the same time, and meet up in Tehran. For awhile I even had something like that as a tagline.
Won’t happen until 2013 or later.
.......We lost when we got caught up in a nation-building experiment to create a democratic government there.......
The lack of understanding in that statement makes your following analysis suspect.
There was no loss in Iraq. some policy at nation building had to follow to collect the various pieces and assemble a government. To suggest otherwise is ludicrous. Having been set on a course of the people selecting a government in spite of tremendous political and religious differences, the Iraqi people are must it out. That is what they are doing with great success.
Afghanistan on the other hand is not now and never has been a nation in the modern sense. It is a feudal anachronism,a remnant of the past still hanging on. A strong central government is possible only when the leaders of the various tribes can be persuaded to surrender some of their power. The problem of petty turf battles is overlaid by a truly abominable scourge, the fanatic Taliban. The elimination of the scourge must be accomplished by killing enough of the leaders to dampen the enthusiasm of those remaining alive.
By the way, the recent elimination of CIA captive interrogation means that the best course is to take no captives. A policy of death will now be in order. Kill them and they need no Miranda Rights
Ain’t now way to win “militarily” in Afghanistan.
The way to win militarily is in Pakistan.
Sorry, broken record time.
Why is that OUR problem? Why did American dollars and American lives have to be expended in that experiment?
We eliminated the menace, lesson delivered.
“That is what they are doing with great success.”
I really hope you are right, but I suspect otherwise. The persecution of Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, as well as other non-Muslims has actually INCREASED under this government. The recent spate of bombings with the removal of American military forces from urban centers is but a sample of things to come. To refer to the very true factional nature of Afghanistan. But in effect, the same situation pertains to Iraq. Iraq, like Saudi Arabia, is not a nation state in the sense western society understands one. It is an artificial creation of the British Empire. The Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites are every bit as hostile to one another as the various warring tribes in Afghanistan. Further, the Arabs are essentially still a tribal society and identify themselves as members as much as Arabs and Muslims.
But it boils down to essentially the same question. Why do American lives and American dollars have to be expended in this experiment?
“Afghanistan on the other hand is not now and never has been a nation in the modern sense. It is a feudal anachronism,a remnant of the past still hanging on.”
I agree. Just like Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
“A strong central government is possible only when the leaders of the various tribes can be persuaded to surrender some of their power.”
In other words, a military dictatorship masquerading as a kingdom. Democracy will not work there.
” The problem of petty turf battles is overlaid by a truly abominable scourge, the fanatic Taliban. The elimination of the scourge must be accomplished by killing enough of the leaders to dampen the enthusiasm of those remaining alive.”
No argument there. But remember what I said in my original post. From Almoravids and Shiites to Assassins, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Taliban. ISLAM ITSELF will repopulate terrorist groups with new organizations. Only by demonstrating the counterproductivity of attacks on us, can we be secure. They will NEVER love us, but we CAN make them fear us, which in their eyes translates into respect.
“By the way, the recent elimination of CIA captive interrogation means that the best course is to take no captives. A policy of death will now be in order. Kill them and they need no Miranda Rights”
No argument there.
Pakistan is a serious problem as they have a nuclear capacity. Otherwise, Pakistan is as insane as any other Muslim political entity and as unstable.
Again, we should isolate, devastate and ignore.
.....Why do American lives and American dollars have to be expended in this experiment?.....
To ask that question is to misunderstand the situation. By focusing on the Christians you are missing the big view.
Recall if you will that we did not go to war with Iraq in 2003. We went to war in 1991 after he invaded Kuwait. He was poised to invade Saudi Arabia and thence the rest of the Gulf nations. They are our friends and allies. Although FReepers bash Arabs it is because they are clueless as to the strong bonds between the Gulf Arabs and America.
America has very important interests in the Gulf. Bringing Iraq into the fold solidifies the region against the thugs in Iran. A few Chaldean Christians while of some import, are trivial when compared to the survival of the region.
It is also worthy of note that although the Messiah insists on playing a peacemaker in the Mideast, as we write today, it is pretty much peaceful there. That is because the work by W and the GCC leaders made it so.
I disagree. I think the attitude toward non-Muslims and the Islamic theocratic political philosophy is central to our dealings with them. Unlike the Obamessiah, I still consider America a Christian country de facto if not de jure and so is western Europe.
“Recall if you will that we did not go to war with Iraq in 2003. We went to war in 1991 after he invaded Kuwait. He was poised to invade Saudi Arabia and thence the rest of the Gulf nations.”
I am aware of that.
“They are our friends and allies. Although FReepers bash Arabs it is because they are clueless as to the strong bonds between the Gulf Arabs and America.”
Here is where we disagree. I don;t consider the Saudis our Friends and Allies. The Israelis are our Friends and Allies. The Saudis are LOADED with money and they have LOTS of young men who are jobless. HOW MANY SAUDIS FOUGHT WITH US TO DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST SADDAM???? Indeed, the same ingrates we were defending told our fighting men and women they couldn't wear crosses or stars of David in the Kingdom while there protecting THEIR interests. Nor could they even bring in a Bible.
The Saud Family is a collection of inbred self-centered plutocrats who are walking a thin line between their need for western money, the threat of Islamic fundamentalism which infects their entire population, and their wish to bankroll Wahhabist missions in the rest of the world. Indeed, Wahhabi Islam, the kind practised in the Kingdom, is by far the most virulently intolerant brand of Islam, even among the very many many strains of that fanatical and violent faith.
By NO STRETCH of the imagination do I consider the brutal, oppressive, intolerant, anti-Israeli, anti-Christian Shiekdom called Saudi Arabia our Friends.
“It is also worthy of note that although the Messiah insists on playing a peacemaker in the Mideast, as we write today, it is pretty much peaceful there. That is because the work by W and the GCC leaders made it so.”
Bush helped pacify things there by taking out Saddam and cutting the legs off the Taliban. But I believe the quiet there - in Iraq - is just the radicals waiting for our departure. We gave them a deadline and they can anticipate our leaving. So why waste their resources on us now? The recent spate of bombings in areas vacated by U.S. military forces is but a preview of things to come.
As for Iran, they are working feverishly to prepare a nuclear bomb, and recently crushed an incipient popular uprising.
In Islamdom, the ONLY governments which can survive are military dictatorships and theocracies.
I understand the west needs Arab oil. But the Arabs need western dollars. Until we start drilling here and exploit nulcear and other power sources, we have to buy their oil.
But that DOESN'T mean we need to cow-tow to them or delude ourselves into thinking our relationship with them is anything but a temporary and turbulent business relationship.
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