pingUmmm, I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd say they're lying.
Isn’t cheaper to have 150,000 demoblized troops on unempoyment in the US than keeping them in Afghanistan a nation that has not been conquered since Alexander the Great.
Leon flies home to California on the weekends. We’ve got a couple of wars going on, and he flies home to California on the weekends. He’s really committed himself to winning, hasn’t he? Every Soldier walking point in the Korengal Valley can take comfort knowing that Leon “Frequent Fliar” Panetta is home watching out for himself. I can see the meetings.
“Mr. Secretary.....what should we do in Afghanistan?”
“Have you seen the pictures of my new pool?”
“Mr. Secretary.....what weapons will we need in the future?”
“Do you like this carpet, or should we go with a shag?”
“Mr. Secretary.....will we have enough units to win?”
“Did the wind blow over any trees in my yard?”
He can't.
Obama's goal is to abandon the ME to islam, and from there the world.
Some congressman needs to introduce a bill that says that Leon can’t jet home to California on the weekends until he’s opened every coffin coming in from the wars and kissed each dead Soldier on the cheek.
The admirals and generals should be forced to kiss every dead Soldier’s ass. Worthless, incompetent fools can’t figure out how to win in 10 years. Why are we paying these assholes?
The problem with COIN is that it cannot be piecemeal, “putting a band-aide on a bullet hole.” Some lessons that should be remembered.
When we entered Iraq, it was a fairly modern, but brutalitarian place, whose infrastructure and institutions were corrupt and worthless. As Petraeus himself observed, having the US rebuild minimal infrastructure was hugely successful in winning hearts and minds, as well as employing Iraqis.
Bottom line: everything we replaced with known functional systems as used in the west, worked. But everything we tried to salvage did not. This also applied to their government.
Afghanistan was much worse. The US should have done several things right from the start. The first is to write for them a “MacArthur(PBUH) constitution”, with Americans running all parts of their government to western standards of efficiency and honesty. This constitution would exist for a minimum of 25 years before it could be changed.
Second, by law all children would be required to attend secure boarding schools in the big cities, where they would be taught a western curriculum, and western language along with Afghan. This would be the future leaders, who would take over from the American government and run their military.
Third, because wages are tiny in Afghanistan, all unemployed men in hostile areas will be put to work in national infrastructure projects. This would actually cost only $1b a year, by their prevailing wage.
Fourth, in addition to the pursuit of the war in Afghanistan, the border with Pakistan would be sealed to impede passage (something adamantly opposed by Karzai).
While this would not prevent Taliban from crossing the border, it would make it impossible for them to do so easily or quickly, in either direction, and not in vehicles or with any substantial amount of gear. The US would man the few major border crossings.
Had we done these things at the start, by now we would be well on our way to leaving a prosperous and relatively peaceful Afghanistan behind.
The problem with COIN is that it cannot be piecemeal, “putting a band-aide on a bullet hole.” Some lessons that should be remembered.
When we entered Iraq, it was a fairly modern, but brutalitarian place, whose infrastructure and institutions were corrupt and worthless. As Petraeus himself observed, having the US rebuild minimal infrastructure was hugely successful in winning hearts and minds, as well as employing Iraqis.
Bottom line: everything we replaced with known functional systems as used in the west, worked. But everything we tried to salvage did not. This also applied to their government.
Afghanistan was much worse. The US should have done several things right from the start. The first is to write for them a “MacArthur(PBUH) constitution”, with Americans running all parts of their government to western standards of efficiency and honesty. This constitution would exist for a minimum of 25 years before it could be changed.
Second, by law all children would be required to attend secure boarding schools in the big cities, where they would be taught a western curriculum, and western language along with Afghan. This would be the future leaders, who would take over from the American government and run their military.
Third, because wages are tiny in Afghanistan, all unemployed men in hostile areas will be put to work in national infrastructure projects. This would actually cost only $1b a year, by their prevailing wage.
Fourth, in addition to the pursuit of the war in Afghanistan, the border with Pakistan would be sealed to impede passage (something adamantly opposed by Karzai).
While this would not prevent Taliban from crossing the border, it would make it impossible for them to do so easily or quickly, in either direction, and not in vehicles or with any substantial amount of gear. The US would man the few major border crossings.
Had we done these things at the start, by now we would be well on our way to leaving a prosperous and relatively peaceful Afghanistan behind.
ping