What Will Be The Conditions For Our Withdrawal From Afghanistan?

In order to understand what the conditions for our withdrawal are lets make sure that we understand what the mission is

. Initially the mission may have been vague because it was not properly defined. It seemed that the US mission was to kill all of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This was not the case but it was difficult for me to figure out with the information that we had.

The mission has been redefined as gaining control of the region and developing the Afghan Army and Police Force to the point where they will be able to maintain control of the country once we leave. Based on those objectives we can probably lay out accurate terms for our withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The purpose of the recent troop surge was to help us to realize the goals that we have laid out. Ideally the troop surge would have not necessarily consisted of a lot of fighting or contact. It would have been just as successful if the Taliban and al-Qaeda had decided not to fight and just left the area. The purpose of sending massive numbers of troops to the region was to gain control of the country while we trained the Afghan army and police force to the point that they would be able to maintain control of the area that the surge cleared.

The biggest shortcoming to the operation so far has been widespread corruption among the police and army officials. This corruption has made it very difficult to win the hearts and minds of the civilian population.

The problem has been compounded by the fact that the insurgent response has been opposite of what we have expected. Rather than melt away into the shadows the insurgents have put up quite a fight. They obviously place a great deal of value on a victory in Kandahar Province which is the major area of the offensive. There is a propaganda victory which will be gained or lost in this battle because Kandahar is the birth place of the Taliban. They obviously dont want to lose the symbolic victory of maintaining control of this area.

I have written in my blog about how the fact that the insurgents are throwing so much into this battle is a good thing. It is good because NATO and the United States dont have to go very far to try to find them. After this battle is over and NATO has won insurgent numbers will be greatly decimated in the region. This is not a statistic to gloat about because the insurgents can never be wiped out completely. They are coming from many of the surrounding Arab countries in the region to fight in Afghanistan so we cant look at victory in terms of a body count. There will always be more than enough insurgents to go around.

The battle is made more difficult by the fact that insurgents are finding refuge in neighboring Pakistan after they have conducted raids and ambushes in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has not been forthcoming with enough help to make a difference in insurgent operations. We fight them in Afghanistan and watch them run away across the border. Drones have had good success in reducing their numbers but troops on the ground would do a much better job.

We can look at most of our objectives as being met because we have established control over most of the country. The key to the operation is Kandahar province. When it falls the rest of the area around it will be much easier to control. The biggest variable which can affect this operation is the training level of the Afghan police and army. We could essentially turn the country over to them and say that we have met our objectives in retaking territory but it will all be for naught if they are unable to hold onto it. Military Ring Express

by: tishbite

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