subject: We Must Use Innovative Strategy To Win The War In Afghanistan [print this page] We Must Use Innovative Strategy to Win the War in Afghanistan
The Obama administration is looking at various innovative ways to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our soldiers back home. We have to keep this in mind when looking to end the war. We can never eliminate al-Qaeda or the Taliban so that cant be our objective. The first thing that this administration did was to reevaluate the objectives of the war to decide what we must focus on. The word focus is important because if we dont establish specific, achievable, concise objectives we might find ourselves in a situation that we can never extract ourselves from. Remember the Soviet defeat in the 1980s in a war there which helped to push their economy over the edge.
I believe that the longer we stay in that country the greater the disadvantage that we will find ourselves in. Osama bin Laden is well aware of this is comfortable fighting a war of attrition with us. He will remain hidden just as long as he possibly can as long as we have a large force committed to action in that country.
Our objectives have been modified in order to give us a viable exit strategy. We are interested now in stabilizing the government of that country and winning the loyalty of its government and its people. If we can train sufficient Afghan forces to hold the territory that we gain control of we have done the job that we needed to do.
Part of that initiative is an effort to train a competent police force and Afghan army but the biggest problem has been government corruption. This corruption undermines the efforts that we are making to win the hearts and minds of the people. It pits the people against the government and causes them to be less likely to cooperate with government initiatives.
There is a massive effort going on to win the hearts and minds of the people, but the brunt of it falls squarely on the shoulders of the individual combat soldier. Combat soldiers are under increasing pressure to ask questions first and shoot later. In addition, operational plans are being made public so that now the enemy and the civilians of that country know when and where the next incursion by the US and NATO will occur. This was virtually unheard of until now. The purpose of doing this is to give civilians plenty of time to leave the area of expected action. It also lets the enemy know exactly what we are up to. It gives them time to prepare for the next assault before it happrns.
President Karzai is actively negotiating with at least one faction of the Taliban which I see as a brilliant strategic move. This is an action which is divisive to the Taliban and will hopefully allow them to save face if they decide to come to a peace agreement. Karzai is offering them a voice in the affairs of the new government. This is a brilliant strategy for reuniting the country.
Personally I feel that the best course of action that we can take would be to help shore up the Afghan government and exit the country. We cant change the mores, attitudes, and beliefs of the Afghan people. Our best course of action would be to win their support, help to strengthen their government, and leave their country. Military Ring Express,
