The Meaning of Marjah

stratfor.com ^ | February 16, 2010 | 2119 GMT | Kamran Bokhari, Peter Zeihan and Nathan Hughes

[11th Commandment]

This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR

On Feb. 13, some 6,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and Afghan National Army (ANA) troops launched a sustained assault on the town of Marjah in Helmand province. Until this latest offensive, the U.S. and NATO effort in Afghanistan had been constrained by other considerations, most notably Iraq. Western forces viewed the Afghan conflict as a matter of holding the line or pursuing targets of opportunity. But now, armed with larger forces and a new strategy, the war — the real war — has begun. The most recent offensive — dubbed Operation Moshtarak (“Moshtarak” is Dari for “together”) — is the largest joint U.S.-NATO-Afghan operation in history. It also is the first major offensive conducted by the first units deployed as part of the surge of 30,000 troops promised by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The United States originally entered Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. In those days of fear and fury, American goals could be simply stated: A non-state actor — al Qaeda — had attacked the American homeland and needed to be destroyed. Al Qaeda was based in Afghanistan at the invitation of a near-state actor — the Taliban, which at the time were Afghanistan’s de facto governing force. Since the Taliban were unwilling to hand al Qaeda over, the United States attacked. By the end of the year, al Qaeda had relocated to neighboring Pakistan and the Taliban retreated into the arid, mountainous countryside in their southern heartland and began waging a guerrilla conflict. In time, American attention became split between searching for al Qaeda and clashing with the Taliban over control of Afghanistan.

But from the earliest days following 9/11, the White House was eyeing Iraq, and with the Taliban . . .

[11th Commandment]

Good read on why this region is important and the US strategy.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for posting , very good read.

[walford]

If only the MSM could be this informative. Thanks for the post.

[Marine_Uncle]

A good summary on the Afghan SASO (security and stabilization operation).

[Theophilus]

Great Read!

The quotation Man proposes but God disposes may come down to us as a direct translation from a work of devotion written in Latin by Thomas a Kempis.
This work, his celebrated Of the Imitation of Christ, is the second most widely read christian text after the Bible itself. It contains many sensitively and wisely expressed insights into spirituality and morals.
In Chapter 19 of Book 1 we find :-

"For the resolutions of the just depend rather on the grace of God than on their own wisdom; and in Him they always put their trust, whatever they take in hand.
For man proposes, but God disposes; neither is the way of man in his own hands".

The exact Latin phrase translating as man proposes, but God disposes; being Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit;

Many of the numerous insights contained in the Of the Imitation of Christ are very well phrased and judiciously expressed restatements of insights that themselves originate in the Bible.
In relation to this insight that man proposes but God disposes there are several originals in the Bible to chose from:-

Thus in the Book of Proverbs, attributed to Solomon the Wise, we read:-

A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. Proverbs 16:9

and again in Proverbs 19:21:-

"There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand."

With these verses we may also compare Jeremiah 10:23:-

O Lord, I know, that the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Shakespeare, too, gets in on the act:- “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.”