U.S. commander: Afghan forces insufficient
July 11th, 2009 . by TexasFredU.S. commander: Afghan forces insufficient
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the newly arrived top commander in Afghanistan, has concluded that the Afghan security forces will have to be far larger than currently planned if President Obama’s strategy for winning the war is to succeed, according to senior military officials.
Such an expansion would require spending billions more than the $7.5 billion the administration has budgeted annually to build up the Afghan army and police over the next several years, and the likely deployment of thousands more U.S. troops as trainers and advisers, officials said.
Obama has voiced strong commitment to the ongoing Afghan conflict — which this year surpasses Vietnam as America’s longest combat engagement — but has been cautious about making any additional military resources available beyond the 17,000 combat troops and 4,000 military trainers he agreed to in February. That will bring the total U.S. force to 68,000 by fall.
Instead, Obama has emphasized the need to pay equal attention to other aspects of the U.S. effort, including bolstering Afghanistan’s economy and governance. Announcement of any additional military resources this year would raise questions from Congress and the American public about whether his overall strategy is working as intended.
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U.S. commander: Afghan forces insufficient
There is one point of the Bush presidency that I was totally, 100% in support of, and that was our foray into Afghanistan following the attacks of 9-11. We went to the right place, at the right time, against the right people and we had the Taliban all but disposed of, at least in Afghanistan itself.
Then we traipsed off to Iraq in search of all those WMDs that threatened America. I hesitate to address this topic, I know that there are still some out there that honestly believed the WMDs thing. I am NOT one of them. Yellow cake is NOT a WMD by itself. Sarin filled .155MM Howitzer rounds that were manufactured BEFORE 1991 were not WMDs either. Not WMDs that could have threatened the USA.
In any case, our involvement in Iraq became intense. We were engaged, for whatever reason, in an all out fight, and we suffered well over 4,000 casualties in the process. We also took our focus OFF of Afghanistan, and by doing so, the Taliban once again gained strength and reared it’s ugly head and is now attempting to retake control of Afghanistan.
Military commanders always need more EVERYTHING. Troops, weapons, ammunition, all of it. A good commander knows that the only way to win a war is to engage the enemy and overwhelm them. Completely and thoroughly overwhelm and defeat them. You kill as many of your enemy as is necessary to WIN the battle and thus the war. You don’t play games, you don’t worry about PCness, you go in and By God, you DESTROY your enemy and declare victory.
Well, maybe I should say, that’s how it used to be done.
We KNOW that U.S. forces in Iraq took a serious beating for a while, they were up against a well trained and well supplied insurgency that was fighting on home turf, and that is ALWAYS an advantage. We know that our troops were saddled by some ridiculous rules of engagement, one example, Fallujah. The Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr was holed up in a Mosque, firing on, and KILLING U.S. Marines. Those Marines were denied the right to fire back and engage hostile forces simply because WE, our president, didn’t want to offend the Islamic world by allowing those Marines to blow a Mosque to HELL!
We know that The Surge was successful. It was a much debated action, many feared that The Surge was going to be micromanaged and run from the Oval Office just as much of the war in Iraq had already been done. Luckily, it wasn’t, and now U.S. forces have turned the cities of Iraq back over to Iraqi forces. An action that has yet to prove it was a wise one, but none the less, WE did our job and brought a reasonable level of pacification to Baghdad.
This is all so reminiscent of the war in Vietnam. We pacified Saigon, yet we fought vicious and deadly battles all over other parts of Vietnam. As we were pulling out of Saigon, the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong were marching in, taking over and making our many years of involvement in Vietnam, and the 54,000 some odd deaths of U.S. military personnel a total waste of lives, money and time. As soon as U.S. forces cleared Baghdad, a new wave of suicide bombings began. Coincidence?
Is Afghanistan going to be another Vietnam? Is Iraq another version of Vietnam? Just on a smaller scale casualty wise? Because from a fiscal standpoint, I am still of the opinion that Iraq is the major contributor to our current recession. World War II brought the United States OUT of a depression, oddly, our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan seem to coincide with us sinking into the worst recession we have seen in MY memory.
Of course we haven’t lost over 54,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq as compared to Vietnam, but I must point out, we were attacked by Japanese forces on Dec. 7, 1941. The next day we entered World War II against Japan, Germany and Italy.
That war was over on August 15, 1945 as we declared VICTORY over Japan and the unconditional Surrender of Japan occurred aboard the battleship USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. Victory in Europe was achieved on May 8, 1945. That’s roughly a time span of 3 years and 9 months my friends. A world wide war and we had it over and done with in just under 4 years. Iraq and Afghanistan are both roughly the same size in land area as Texas.
Our military hasn’t forgotten how to fight, and WIN a war, but I’m afraid our leadership has.
The current administration has no intent of allowing the US militray to do it’s job the right way as that would mean killing more of his holy muslim brothers. Then he’d have to apologize all over again!
The last several administrations had no intent of allowing the US military to do it’s job the right way.
Let’s see, Korea, Vietnam, now Afghanistan and Iraq…
We, the willing, are led by politically correct imbeciles, governed by the gutless and taxed to death so they, the gutless imbeciles, can maintain their extravagant lifestyles and PCness…
Obama lied when he said he would destroy the Taliban. He lied when he said he would defeat al Qaeda.
He is the friend of terrorists, did we expect him to really fight a war against them?
Politics are what start wars and fighting is what ends them….problem is our Politicians are still trying to win this one. There’s a time for talking and a time for fighting…the talking should have ended when the fighting began. Now get out of the way and let our troops fight and win this one and come home.
Speaking of coming home…my son returns next month after his second tour of duty in Iraq. his first time over he lead a Platoon of 20 men….he received 2 Bronze Stars ( one with V for Valor ). This time he is a Capt. and over 200 men and women. He has been put in for a Silver Star this time for saving his Colonel’s ass during an ambush.
Anyway….we are giving him a Welcome Home party at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth on August 15th….at which time he is going to ride one of the bulls ( I guess he will need the rush to help him survive here at home ).
Sorry for the long post…I just had to brag a little.
extex_cop – tell your son welcome home from me, you have a right to be proud and brag a little. Glad he’s safe and sound. Fred- I served two tours in Vietnam as an Army helicopter pilot and closely observed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The key to winning in all these conflicts is rules of engagement. From Vietnam to the present this country has made its fighting men combat their foes with one hand tide behind their backs based on the current political agenda. The US Govt does not have the will to complelely defeat any enemy. Their too worried about public perception. Prime example – First Gulf war when that enemy convoy was raked by helicopter gunships; much destruction and human carnage. Should have followed them back to Iraq and wiped them out. Problem was, the engagement was on the nightly news and people thought it was too gruesome. Our advance was stopped and there was a cease fire shortly after.
Wasn’t sure what part of your commentary to comment on until I got to the last line…You said it all!
“Our military hasn’t forgotten how to fight, and WIN a war, but I’m afraid our leadership has.”
Looks as if we are back to the BS of “Winning Hearts and Minds” instead of wars.
JDL
extex_cop, your son sounds like quite a man. I know you’re proud of him and so are we. Enjoy his homecoming.
…look, Katie has it right. Obama is a friend of terrorists all over this globe! How on earth will we ever conquer the baddies, our enemies, when the baddies are Obama’s friends? Just Thursday Obama released four Iraninan “diplomats” who were the terrorist leaders in Iraq. These “diplomats” were responsible for hundreds of American servicemen’s deaths in Iraq. Plainly, Obama wants the Iranian mullahs to win in Iran and the Taliban to win in the Hindu Kush. People, we have a real problem in our Whitehouse and Congress, and with the MSM.
I’ve never understood the point of fighting a war if you have no intention of winning. That’s what my dad and uncles went off to do during WWII. Just when did the idea of winning become a bad thing? I’m so very proud of our men and women in uniform on one hand, and deeply embarrassed by the so called leadership of this country for the last couple of decades. And now? We’ve definitely got the wrong people at the wrong time sitting up there on their thrones in D.C.
extex_cop…..would you give your son a huge granny type hug from a very grateful ol’ broad? I’d really appreciate it!