It is not a matter of counter-insurgency, it is a matter of what our goal is and whether we are to use the tools at hand to carry it out. We cannot defeat Islamic terrorists, for example, is we still see Islam as a “religion of peace”. We need to draw a line and simply kill the enemy. Give no quarter to them. We cannot allow them to gain a foothold, to undermine us. Afghanistan is a problem, Pakistan is bigger one. We need to be consistent, kill the enemy, stop nation building. Once the enemy is dead, if there is anyone left, maybe we can help this rebuild. It worked in Japan and Germany, it can work today.
England defeated the Malaya insurgency in the 1950s.
England defeated the Boers in 1900.
We defeated the Plains tribes by destroying their “base camps” ( villages
and horse herds), cutting off their food supply (buffalo) and confining those captured in massive POW camps (reservations).
To defeat an insurgency, you have to destroy their bases.
To defeat the Afghan insurgency, we have to destroy their Pakistan bases
and cut off their money supply.
Simple, actually.
We let the Viet Cong have bases in Cambodia and Laos an N. Vietnam,
and never cut off their supplies or destroyed their bases outside of S. Vietnam.
Result: we grew tired, and gave up.
We must become really mean and savage—Only in this way—becoming as evil as those who are in rebellion. We must become as crazy as they are. Only this can win. BUT, we can not be good decent civilized people when facing barbarians. To do so is to set back civilzation 500 years to 1,000 years.