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How We Can Win in Afghanistan
Commentary Magazine ^ | Oct. 14, 2009 | Max Boot

Posted on 10/14/2009 8:59:28 AM PDT by Jbny

The terms counterterrorism and counterinsurgency have become common currency this decade in the wake of September 11, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. To a layman’s ear, they can sound like synonyms, especially because of our habit of labeling all insurgents as terrorists. But to military professionals, they are two very different concepts. Counterterrorism refers to operations employing small numbers of Special Operations “door kickers” and high-tech weapons systems such as Predator drones and cruise missiles. Such operations are designed to capture or kill a small number of “high-value targets.” Counterinsurgency, known as COIN in military argot, is much more ambitious. According to official Army doctrine, COIN refers to “those military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency.” The combined approach typically requires a substantial commitment of ground troops for an extended period of time... READ THE REST AT COMMENTARYMAGAZINE.COM

(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; insurgent; terrorist; us
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1 posted on 10/14/2009 8:59:29 AM PDT by Jbny
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To: Jbny
Bring enough troops. Town by town purge the bad guys, establish local control and see to it all drug crops are burned and will be forever from now on.

Most devastatingly, make sure the women are educated so they quit taking the abuse from men in that culture.

2 posted on 10/14/2009 9:01:22 AM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Jbny
Best way to win is put someone with a SPINE in the White House first and foremost.

Someone that can think at the speed of war...in seconds...not weeks...waiting for dozens of politically motivated quislings to opine in.

3 posted on 10/14/2009 9:03:16 AM PDT by NorCoGOP (Recession: friend loses his job. Depression: You lose your job. Recovery: Obama loses his job.)
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To: NorCoGOP

Amen!

This administration dose not have the WILL TO WIN!


4 posted on 10/14/2009 9:06:17 AM PDT by TheDailyChange (Politics,Conservatism,Liberalism)
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To: A CA Guy
Bring enough troops. Town by town purge the bad guys, establish local control and see to it all drug crops are burned and will be forever from now on. There is no one to whom we can "turn control over" and the people are not with us, they are with their TRIBAL LEADERS...this is like going through a time warp and visiting the 7th century...here is no central government and no leadership...this is NOT Iraq, there is no alternative structure and what little there is is so corrupt, we might as well build a big furnace in the heart of this third world shithole and start burning our money now...we don't have enough troops to bring to clear and hold by ourselves and if we did we, like the Russians, would go bankrupt even sooner than we are going to anyway...
5 posted on 10/14/2009 9:07:55 AM PDT by jessduntno (Tell Obama to STFU - Stop The Federal Usurpation.)
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To: Jbny

6 posted on 10/14/2009 9:15:51 AM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: Jbny

With America becoming a communist nation with King Obama, a Muslim, and his corrupt anti-American machine we will have lost in Afghanistan in the matter of time.


7 posted on 10/14/2009 9:18:32 AM PDT by Logical me (Oh, well!!!)
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To: Jbny

Watch this Frontline piece. It is the most information on Afghanistan you can get.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamaswar/


8 posted on 10/14/2009 9:26:06 AM PDT by camp_steveo
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To: Jbny; MestaMachine; Saoirise; Jet Jaguar; Vn_survivor_67-68; usmcobra; TomasUSMC; thouworm; ...
"...McChrystal counsels his troops to take a different path, to “embrace the people,” to “partner with the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] at all echelons,” and to “build governance capacity and accountability.” He urges coalition troops to be “a positive force in the community; shield the people from harm; foster stability. Use local economic initiatives to increase employment and give young men alternatives to insurgency.”

Ahhhh...'The Community'.

"...McChrystal cites an anecdote involving an “ISAF unit and their partnered Afghan company” that were “participating in a large shura [tribal council] in a previously hostile village.” During the shura, which was attended by “nearly the entire village,” he writes, “two insurgents began firing shots at one of the unit’s observation posts.” The sergeant in charge of the post could have returned fire but he chose not “to over-react and ruin the meeting.”

Phew!! That was close to another statistic!

"...The risk of the counterinsurgency approach—which helps to explain why it has not been adopted in Afghanistan until now or in Iraq until 2007—is that, in the short term, it will result in more casualties for coalition forces."

Thanks for putting our guys lives and asses on the line for the Taliban Obama and McChrystal!!!

Counterinsurgency Memo: You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

9 posted on 10/14/2009 9:36:04 AM PDT by 444Flyer ("Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."--Mignon McLaughlin)
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“It’s the ROE’s Stupid” fits.

“RULES OF ENGAGEMENT REVISITED’

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2346439/posts

“OBAMA’S RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN COSTING OUR TROOPS LIVES”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335891/posts

“THE RULES MURDERING OUR TROOPS”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2347085/posts

Then there is this:

“No Rush to Escalate (”war kills off great reform movements”)”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2355050/posts

____________________________________________________________

http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/official_texts/Tactical_Directive_090706.pdf

“...I recognize that the carefully controlled and disciplined employment of force entails risks to our troops...”

“...The Taliban cannot militarily defeat us - but we can defeat ourselves...”

This is all that comes to my mind when I read that:

“We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We’ve lost today,” Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter’s repeated demands for helicopters.

“’We’re pinned down:’ 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335142/posts

If your going to keep them over there Obama&Co.. NOW, can we PLEASE have some Troop-centered and protecting ROE’s! And give them the equipment and manpower they need to back them up!


10 posted on 10/14/2009 9:37:21 AM PDT by 444Flyer ("Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."--Mignon McLaughlin)
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To: Jbny

Sorry, I do not give a damn about afghanistan or any other stan right now.
I’m busy fighting a war against the overthrow of my country by a f-ing marxist and his cronies.


11 posted on 10/14/2009 9:56:13 AM PDT by Joe Boucher
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To: 444Flyer

McChrystal just has not clue about Islam and the culture there.


12 posted on 10/14/2009 10:37:15 AM PDT by Islaminaction
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To: Islaminaction

To our troops detriment.


13 posted on 10/14/2009 10:45:14 AM PDT by 444Flyer ("Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."--Mignon McLaughlin)
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To: 444Flyer

Speak to any military member who has returned home and they know full well what Islam is. Something is very wrong.


14 posted on 10/14/2009 10:59:59 AM PDT by Islaminaction
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To: MestaMachine
This is just great! Turn our troops into ‘Community Organizers’ and call it a day! *sigh*!!!
15 posted on 10/14/2009 1:54:46 PM PDT by 444Flyer ("Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."--Mignon McLaughlin)
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To: Islaminaction; 444Flyer

Fox News had a segment this afternoon about Afghanistan.
McChrystal is backing off his “assessment” now. He is saying that there is too much corruption in Afghanistan. That Afghanistan is “too illiterate.” That the threat from Al Qaeda isn’t in Afghanistan anyway, but in Pakistan, and THAT is the Pak military’s problem.
He NOW says that no matter how many troops we have in Afghanistan, we can’t “win.”
It was all for nothing. And of course, it’s Bush’s fault.


16 posted on 10/14/2009 1:57:39 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: A CA Guy

LOL we win when we are able to Americanize their women.


17 posted on 10/14/2009 1:59:26 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: jessduntno
You then have to develop who you can leave this to, because the only other alternative would be to kill them all.
18 posted on 10/14/2009 2:19:41 PM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: MestaMachine
WOW! These guys change course on a dime.


19 posted on 10/14/2009 2:24:44 PM PDT by 444Flyer ("Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."--Mignon McLaughlin)
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To: jessduntno; 444Flyer; ~Kim4VRWC's~; HollyB; Saoirise; Islaminaction; Nachum

Anyone who backed McChyrstal’s original assessment is going to get their butts burned big time.
bam and McChrystal have put their heads together to lose, pull out, blame Bush for Vietnamizing Afhanistan, and make obama look like a bloody genius.
McChrystal never went there to win a war. He went there to make it as unpopular as he could and he did it by sacrificing American Troops, by making almost impossible for them to fight or even defend themselves.
His call for more Troops was as phoney as his pronouncement that the taliban is not a threat to US...even as they attack in the heart of Pakistan, backed by Iran, and are closing in on their nukes.
This will be a political win for obama. And the Conservatives who trusted McChrystal will be chewed to bits.


20 posted on 10/14/2009 2:27:44 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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