Y’know what, we’ve been there ten years. We need to start building institutions for the Afghans to be able to keep their country stable themselves, ASAP, so that things dont all go to hell in a handbasket, and we can stop having to use our own troops for everything. Above all, we need to establish a professional military caste which can deal with things in its own way, and is committed to a strong and united Afghanistan.
Among the things required:
1. Education is ZERO in Afghanistan, and moslem Madarasa schools are teaching the people nothing but Islamic Jehad. We need to establish a secular education system. Schools.
2. Colleges.
3. A military Academy (Already done, NMAA is up and running, but we need to expand courses taught there, to include biology/biochem/microbio, leading up to point 4). A staable Afghan needs a balanced and well educated professional officer corps. NMAA will provide it.
4. Afghanistan has been devastated by decades of war. There are zero medical facilities worth the name, and zero medical professionals who actually graduated from a medical school worth the name. Any army which fights, needs to know that it has medical backup available. We need to set up a medical training facility along the lines of the USUHS, a federal military medical school.
We can source the med students from NMAA officers, who have trained in Chemistry/Biology/Biochem/Microbio.
A dedicated and well trained professional medical officer corps will boost morale no end amongst the ANA troops.
5. Cantonments: Secured military cities, where establishments, bases, R&R, and planning can be carried out. More people will want to join ANA when they see the well laid out streets, the peacefulness, and the general order and discipline of these organised towns.
This, is just a start.
encourage the ANA to retaliate to any Taliban suicide attacks by identifying the bomber’s origin and then going their and wiping out the entire family , down to uncles ,aunts and cousins. It would not have to happen often . This would stop a lot of attacks . The way it is now the Taliban support base are merely coddled and never punished . The punishment for all of them should be greater than even the most hard core jihadist could contemplate .
It is a start that would have to be seen through for the next 30 yrs. You are dealing with a population that is 90% illiterate, they are tribal and the tribes bow to the war lords. What you are talking about is changing their entire culture, that would take generations.
As for pulling out and focusing on the cities, I am not in the military but it would seem that the Taliban would now own all in routes to the cities. We will be trying to defend the population while giving the Taliban all the area surrounding them. And then by the time they get to the cities the ROE pretty much prevent them from firing at them due to the civilian population.