And jobs. Don't forget jobs...☺
Posted on 06/13/2017 5:10:15 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
Blackwater founder and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince is recommending, as the Trump administration debates its Afghanistan War approach, that the U.S. military go back to its light footprint approach in Afghanistan.
Prince told the “Breitbart News Sunday” radio program that the approach – which would see CIA, special operators, and contractors working with Afghan forces to target terrorists – would be more effective and save the U.S. billions of dollars annually.
“I say go back to the model that worked, for a couple hundred years in the region, by the East India company, which used professional Western soldiers who were contracted and lived with trained with and when necessary fought with their local counterparts,” he said.
Prince said the most effective time the U.S. had in Afghanistan against terrorism was the first 12 months after the September 2001 attack, where CIA, special operators, and contractors worked with local Afghan forces with air support.
“That really put the Taliban and al Qaeda on the back heels,” he said. “The more we’ve gone into a conventional approach in Afghanistan, the more we are losing.”
Prince, who has advised the Trump campaign, argued that the light footprint approach was more effective.
“[It] literally puts them side by side, living in the same base. Believe me – if you’re a trainer, and your life depends on the success of the unit, you are going to make sure the men are paid, fed, equipped,” he said.
Prince also argued that the light footprint approach would also be “much cheaper, more sustainable” – about 10 percent of the current costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Radiate and salt the land.
Don’t station troops there.
You must want to win and save American lives! The left will never stand for that! (PS: I LIKE YOUR STYLE!)
Such cruelty as General Sherman demonstrated, is really the only way to transform the endemic culture and “win” this war. Face it. It should not and will not ever happen. Time for the US to leave. When you are involved in a war that you cannot or do not have the will to win, you are involved in a senseless quagmire. Those who order brave young Americans to make the ultimate sacrifice in such situations are beyond contempt.
What valuable products does Afghanistan have to trade, other than opium?
Remember 9/11? There is a reason we need to be involved. So, look at history. We aren’t going to go in and change their religion by the sword like Islam did. We’ve learned that they don’t take to Western Democracy. So we are left with two choices; a ruthless dictator that is OUR ruthless dictator or an Islamic state. Either way...to keep them from having enough resources to cause problems we need to eradicate the poppy fields. Some nice GMO that kills the plants off would be good. Then let them scratch for subsistence all they want.
That sounds like the only thing that would work. Let that tribe know that, if ANY member of their tribe is caught outside Afghanistan committing terrorism, then the payments stop and we find another tribe to work with, unless the terrorist's whole extended family is put to death.
Meanwhile, if one of the other tribes has a member committing terrorism, then our paid tribe gets to raid the other tribe, kill most of the men, and take the prettier women.
Terrorism WILL stop, when the cost is decimation of your clan.
Have to bring them into the 16th century first....
“What valuable products does Afghanistan have to trade, other than opium?”
Afghanistan is loaded with minerals, including many of the ‘rare earth’ minerals in high demand right now.
After WW II, there was an extensive program in Germany called “denazification”. This program was meant to overtly purge any reamianing covert or open support for the defeated, despicable Nazi regime. There was to be no newspapers,broadcasts, speeches or political activity by individuals or groups that would serve to legitimize the Nazis or allow their resurgence. Actually it was effective and the peace was won.
Such a transformation would be necessary throughout the entire Islamic world if future 9/11 acts are to be prevented. Since such a transformation from without will never occur, a rational America must choose its battles and allocate its resources wisely. Fighting in rural Afghanistan while supporting the Wahhabi loving, 9/11 complicit Saudis is not wise or effective policy.
And jobs. Don't forget jobs...☺
Sounds like the territory would be more valuable if depopulated of the Afghans.
I think that's Trump's tactic with Saudi Arabia vs. the rest of the Gulf states.
The best we can hope for is to buy some "friends" and get the hell out and not shed any more blood and treasure. That is cheaper and probably more effective both in the long and short run.
We are not going to "fix" a place run exclusively by the Devil and we are foolish to think we can.
American and Allied lives are worth infinitely more than the lives of Afghani savages. Rules of engagement should never consider their lives over those of our troops. Every officer and NCO needs to be forced to read and re-read Kipling’s “Arithmetic on the Frontier” until they internalize it.
Either win or leave.
Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan Paperback – May 11, 2010
by Doug Stanton (Author)
When most people think of war, they think high technology warfare and big scenic battles. They envision gargantuan chopper helicopters, top of the line fighter jets, and cutting edge weapons. Horse Soldiers is yet another book about war, but it stands out from the rest. Horse Soldiers tells the story of a group of soldiers that came together when they were needed in combat in Afghanistan. After the attacks on 9/11, they were mobilized. They barely scrapped their equipment together, and were ready to go to war. What they didn’t know was that they would be carrying out their duties on horseback. Horse Soldiers steers away from the norm, examining a much more personal story of the group of soldiers, and how they went through the war on horses.
Horse Soldiers displays a story not for the audience that enjoys big scale epic battles, but rather the intimacy of the soldiers that go to war. It tells the story of a closely knit group of soldiers that were highly specialized and answered the call of duty when their country needed them the most. Horse Soldiers truly displays a unique look at modern warfare and the lives of the patriots that fight for their country. Horse Soldiers is a must read for all audiences, as it opens up new perspectives never seen before, and makes people appreciate those who fight for them.
They recommended we never put troops in Afghanistan
advice not taken
That was the prevailing consensus in the era of Kipling. There was no doubt in his time about the righteousness of British imperialism and the civilizing, beneficial effect it had wherever it went. That consensus no longer exists and therefore the ability to “win” is no longer possible. The West neither has the will, moral certainty or the disposition to do what is necessary to forcefully transform Islamic culture to make it compatible with modernity. If it is to transform ,it must come from within, or crumble into a violent backwater. Indeed it is far better to leave than to make ongoing fruitless sacrifices.
“How does that deal with the dismaying tendency of Afghan soldiers to shoot our soldier?”
One reason for Afghan soldiers to shoot their American counterparts, is taking personal offense to something.
The Iranians have suffered far more of this, with the Afghans they have hired to fight in Syria - several senior Iranian officers have been killed by their Afghan mercenaries. Iranian senior officers come from a ruling elite that is used to lording their dominance over subordinates - they feel entitled to slap or strike subordinates. Afghans tend to not be particularly fearful people, and often won’t tolerate taking crap from someone.
Some of the killings of Americans by Afghan soldiers are definitely by infiltrators with islamist or Taliban sympathies, but some are just disgruntled or unhinged individuals - sometimes upset over things that the guys getting shot had nothing to do with.
The bottom line though, is that the phenomena is just a footnote in the big picture struggle in the country.
Erik Prince makes some very important points, which should help quite a bit.
“Cheaper, Lighter”
How about “Victorious”?
Can somebody do that?
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