U.S. commander in Afghanistan warns that full withdrawal will allow al-Qaeda to regroup

Washington Post ^ | March 12 | Ernesto Londoño

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The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that al-Qaeda’s network in that country is in “survival mode,” but warned that a full American military drawdown after the end of the year would allow the terrorist group to regenerate there.

Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford’s remarks to the Senate Armed Services Committee appeared intended to shape the White House’s deliberation over whether to leave behind a contingent for training and counterterrorism missions beyond 2014 or pull out entirely. The decision has been delayed by the Afghan president’s refusal to sign a security pact with Washington.

“A withdrawal, in my mind, means abandoning the people of Afghanistan, abandoning the endeavor that we’ve been here on for the last decade, and then providing al-Qaeda the space within which to begin again to plan and conduct operations against the West,” Dunford said.

The general said a U.S. pullout in 2015 would be a “huge moral factor for al-Qaeda,” and would allow it “to once again establish preeminence in the region and become the vanguard for the al-Qaeda movement from the region.” “If we leave at the end of 2014, the Afghan security forces will begin to deteriorate,” Dunford said. “The security environment will begin to deteriorate, and I think the only debate is the pace of that deterioration.”

Dunford testified that he supports leaving a residual force of 8,000 to 12,000 NATO troops — made up mostly of U.S. forces — and a separate contingent of a few thousand special forces to carry out counterterrorism operations.

[FreedomPoster]

Churchill’s The Story of the Malakand Field Force should have been immediate required reading for anyone in the U.S. Government involved in reacting to 9/11. Big chunks of the State Dept., DoD, and the National Security Council, for starters.

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I believe in beating your enemy’s head in with everything you’ve got ‘til he cries uncle, and if you’re not willing to do that, then don’t get involved in a long-term war.

Exactly - there's not much that can stand against our military if we "turn loose the dogs of war" and if we don't intend to take off the leash, we have no business firing a shot. I get the sense that the restraints that have been impose don our warriors is being used to adopt the philosophy that we can weaken the military machine to the point where its best efforts will only be able to give us the results that we get with all the restraining ROE - it might not be too long when we don't have the ability to win a real war even if we regain the will.