Afghan Strategy Flawed?

Hard to choose.

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Not because I can't decide between them, but because none of them is a "strategy."

In Korea, MacArthur's strategy was to land behind the North Korean advance at Inchon, cutting off their logistical tail.  

At Remagen, Monty was thinking he could secure a highway into the Germans' rear and likewise disrupt supplies to the front.  

Some would say the Reagan strategy in the Cold War was to scare the Soviets into spending so much on war and weapons that they went bankrupt.  

These are examples of "strategy."  You, and Obama, offer tactics.  You offer tools, without saying what the job is.  

If the strategy is to pacify Afghanistan by defeating al-Qaeda, Congratulations! Mission Accomplished.  
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by: Barron X @ Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 02:46:24 AM UTC

I don't read nearly enough here but I'm half in love with Barron X

Thanks for the commentary and analysis here and elsewhere. I don't always agree but you always make me ponder. And yes, that's enough. For now.

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by: CrankyOldLady @ Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 04:07:42 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

hear hear

And I read pretty much everything.

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by: redstateblues @ Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 04:36:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

One new thing we're trying to figure out

I saw this stated somewhere this weekend, that our goal is not victory but success. The U.S. has zero experience in fighting for limited ends. But that's what we have here.

And success is a lot more nebulous measure than victory. A lot of what Obama is trying to accomplish is to get the Taliban to seperate from Al Qaeda - how do you do that?

With all that said, I think the real fight is in Pakistan too.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

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by: DavidThi808 @ Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 04:50:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I would essentially agree with you Thorntondem

I think we need less, not more troops in Afgahnistan. Latest intelligence says there's only about 100 Al Qaeda fighters in Afgahnistan. So if the real problem has migrated to Pakistan, then that's where we need our resources.

Having 100,000 in a country to fight a force there that is now very minimal tells me this is more about nation building and propping up a corrupt, marginal US backed government that has very little chance of effectively unifying and ruling a nation state. Until that happens, Afghanistan will remain a largely ungovernable place dominated by feudal warlords.  

It's only class warfare if you fight back

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by: allyncooper @ Mon Dec 07, 2009 at 17:34:22 PM UTC

The increase coincides with a new Pakistani offensive

South Wajiristan is AL Qaeda central,

Last summer's failed Pakistani offensive caused anywghere from 1.5 to 3 million refugeess. Many of the tAliban and Al Qaeda exited with them i'm sure.

Nevertheless, dismantling command and control structires by a two pronged attack on both sodes of the borfer makes some sense.

Sad taht nobody seems to care about catching  Bin Laden anymore.

judge elected officials by their actions, not by their rhetoric

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by: Ray Springfield @ Thu Dec 10, 2009 at 18:36:12 PM UTC

Except

Just today, Pakistan pronounced the South Waziristan offensive "over."

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/new...

Today, you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to be the same.  Which one will it be?  --Joseph V. Paterno

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by: Ralphie @ Sat Dec 12, 2009 at 18:51:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

hard to say what's disinformation in a war zone

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said the United States and Pakistan are coordinating their efforts against Taliban in Pakistan and will work to coordinate their efforts to prevent Afghan Taliban from crossing into Pakistani territory as the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan begins, Bloomberg reported Dec. 11.


judge elected officials by their actions, not by their rhetoric

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by: Ray Springfield @ Sat Dec 12, 2009 at 19:00:18 PM UTC

Your article reports

Mr Gilani told reporters on Saturday, the military may now fix its attention on the Orakzai region where the militants are thought to have fled.

"The operation in South Waziristan is over. Now there are talks about Orakzai," he said.
So maybe they are on the run.

It's somewhat like Vietnam. The insurgents move with the refugeees.

judge elected officials by their actions, not by their rhetoric

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by: Ray Springfield @ Sat Dec 12, 2009 at 19:03:47 PM UTC