Is Another Surge in Afghanistan a Good Idea?

The Imaginative Conservative ^ | 17 May 2017 | Joseph Mussomeli

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

I've been saying this since 2003:

And it would also require us to face the fact that Pakistan, the enemy we insist on calling an ally, does not want us to win and will do all in its power to prevent our success.

[allendale]

If a person walked into a tar pit multiple times carrying soap and water, insisting that he was cleaning the tar and each time had to be extracted at great cost, eventually he would be considered insane.

[nevergore]

Occupation after war doesn’t work in Islamic countries....

You can’t model those crap Islamic countries after Germany or Japan.....

If we go to war with a Islamic country, go in, kill them and leave.....no support, no help....

[raygunfan]

ive not heard a peep from germany or japan since we polished them off with OVERWHELMING DESTRUCTION 70 some years ago....

maybe we need to revisit that strategy instead of hand-wringing namby pamby limp-wristed girly-man columns like this one?

[Vaquero]

Bush couldn’t be bothered with taking out Bin Laden in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Too busy finishing Poppy’s fight.

Get out now. Get the Muslims out of America. Let them rot in their hell holes in the sand box.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

we polished them off with OVERWHELMING DESTRUCTION 70 some years ago

Except that doing that in just one country would not work (that was one of the points of the article). We'd have to do it in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and that country where the President was making nicey-nice with the king the other day.

There simply is not the political will in America to do that.

[Alberta's Child]

Short answer: NO.

If we get to 2018 and: (1) the U.S. is incurring regular casualties in Afghanistan again, and (2) there is no sign of a wall being built along our southern border ... then Trump may as well resign and go back to New York because his presidency will have been nothing more than a con game.

That may sound harsh, but that's exactly where we were in 2006 -- and look what calamity befell this country over the next ten years after that.

[9YearLurker]

No.

[rawcatslyentist]

Why should we? Is the opiate supply in danger?

[Don Corleone]

Afghanistan has historically been where big nations go to die.

[redfreedom]

Yes, most definitely yes, there should be a surge, like right now.

That is, a surge of all US personnel and their equipment towards ships and planes that will get them out of there.

[DIRTYSECRET]

The modern day version of the Crusades-more effective.

[zzwhale]

TO WIN A WAR YOU HAVE TO KILL THE ENEMY AND BREAK THIER WILL
SO IT IS REALLY A CONTEST OF WILLS

DIPLOMATS THINK THEY ARE THERE TO WIN HEARTS AND MINDS... SORRY BOYS .... ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.... AND ALL THE PARTIES AND MEETINGS ACCOMPLISH NOT A F...ING THING... IN FACT IT WOULD BE BEST TO PULL DIPLOMATS OUT AND APPLY THE MONEY MORE USEFULLY..BULLETS AND BOMBS

OBAMA DID NOT HAVE THE WILL TO WIN
HE ISSUED RESTRAINTS ON RULES OF ENGAGEMENT THAT PROHIBITED WINNING.... THE GENERAL ARE KISS ASS AND WONT DEMAND TO BE UNLEASHED..... WILLING TO LET PEOPLE DIE FOR PROMOTION...

HE USED THE PHONY EXCUSE OF COLLATERAL DAMAGE AS HIS EXCUSE AND WAS WILLING TO SACRIFICE OUR MILITARY WHO HE TOTALLY DESPISES... AND THEY DESPISE HIM RIGHTFULLY SO... HE WAS AND IS A TRAITOR WHO SUPPORTED THE ENEMY WITH MONEY AND TRAINING... AND ISIS SPREAD WORLDWIDE INCLUDING AFGHANISTAN... IRAN AHS A NUKE AND TERRORISM IS STRONGER THAN EVER... A FAILURE

IF YOU DONT DEAL WITH THE JIAHDIS IN THE ISI YOU ARE WASTING YOUR TIME... PAKSITAN IS HOME TO ZAWAHIRI AND OTHER ALQUEDA LEADERSHIP AND OBL’S SON...

AND DO TELL ME WHY WE ALLOW THE POPPY FIELDS TO FLOURISH...?? AH CAN YOU SAY IRAN CONTRA..... $20-30 BILLION + PER YEAR REASONS TO TURN A BLIND EYE... IN NAM THE GENERALS AND CIA RAN THE DRUG TRADE IN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE..... OLD HABITS DIE A SLOW DEATH ... IF THEY DIE AT ALL

SO IF TRUMP UNLEASHES THE DOGS OF WAR WE CAN WIN... OTHERWISE DONT BOTHER....

[Old Teufel Hunden]

" Third, we have failed for sixteen years to articulate what a realistic victory looks like."

This is the main thrust of his article. What he says about the Afghani people not wanting us there is pure balderdash. There are a lot of Afghanis that want us there and don't want the Taliban to take over. For the surge to work, we have to have clear definable goals and a long term strategy after the surge has achieved it's goals such as helping them to gain economic prosperity by investments in mining their precious minerals.

A little history is needed here. At the risk of banging an old gong, we are now dealing with cleaning up an old problem, European imperialism. This time it was our friends the Brits and goes back to a man named Sir Henry Durand and his Durand line. He was charged by the British empire with drawing the boundary lines between India's northwest frontier (now Pakistan) and Afghanistan. Did he draw this boundary along ethnic lines? Of course he didn't! That wouldn't make sense for the British empire. He drew it along strategic lines so that the British Empire could stop any invasion into India from Russia. This meant that a large ethnic group (the Pashtuns) got split between two countries. This happened 125 years ago, but if you think this doesn't still matter ask the Afghanis or Pakistanis about the Durand line.

It is the Pashtun tribes that don't want us, that support the Taliban and allow them to jump across the border and hide. In order for this surge to work, we have to have clearly defined goals, new rules of engagement and it has to be done in cooperation with Pakistan working their side of the border as a blocking force.

IMO, we have to make this work and keeping 10,000 troops there afterwards to assist the brave Afghani police and security forces and keeping the crazies at bay is like stationing troops in Korea, Europe or other places. As long as they are not dying, then it's needed. Remember folks, inaction has consequences also. Read about what happened in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from the mid 70's to the early 80's for further reference. The enemies of freedom were on the march for about 10 years after we let Vietnam fall. Not just in Southeast Asia, but in Central America also.

[BlueLancer]

Jeez, fix your caps key ...

[mad_as_he$$]

Old Afghan saying:

You have the watch, I have the time.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I agree with you about the wall for sure. That wall has to have progress on it.

[VTenigma]

Exactly right. Pack them up and get out. I’m sick of protecting their opium for the CIA.

[marron]

Special forces attached to Afghan warlords is the model that beat the Taliban. That may be the model to go back to. That, and backing up the Afghan military and police.

Let them fight the war, but with overwhelming resources that they can call in as needed.

[marron]

Special forces attached to Afghan warlords is the model that beat the Taliban.

They are fighting ISIS similarly. Special forces (and air forces) assisting local military.