what do you guys think of the new Afghan strategy?

A

Ambivalent

Junior Member
The strategy can work if development is combined with increased security. Marines are taking a different strategy than the Army and the Brits before them did in Afghanistan, moving out of FOB's to be a constant visual presence in the lives of the Afghans, while asking them what their development needs are. Have a read:

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A strategy such as this can be successful in the long term, if carried out by all US forces. I think the Afghans would like to see the Taliban gone, but fear them and what might happen to them if they are left without security in the future. The challenge for the US will be to provide that security, and to provide the Afghans with a better economic and governmental model for the future. I think all the allies have learned the lesson from the 1990's of the bad things that happen when the Afghans are abandoned, and won't repeat this error again.
Now, all this talk about who's back yard Afghanistan is in and who is exerting influence in who's sphere of influence, that for me does not wash. Nato and the US would not be in Afghanistan now had not the attacks at 9-11 happened, and had not the Afghan government declined to turn over the AQ suspects in that attack. The US is not there to mess with China or Russia. We are there to defeat an enemy that attacked us.
 
P

pla101prc

Senior Member
Ambivalent said:
The strategy can work if development is combined with increased security. Marines are taking a different strategy than the Army and the Brits before them did in Afghanistan, moving out of FOB's to be a constant visual presence in the lives of the Afghans, while asking them what their development needs are. Have a read:

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A strategy such as this can be successful in the long term, if carried out by all US forces. I think the Afghans would like to see the Taliban gone, but fear them and what might happen to them if they are left without security in the future. The challenge for the US will be to provide that security, and to provide the Afghans with a better economic and governmental model for the future. I think all the allies have learned the lesson from the 1990's of the bad things that happen when the Afghans are abandoned, and won't repeat this error again.
Now, all this talk about who's back yard Afghanistan is in and who is exerting influence in who's sphere of influence, that for me does not wash. Nato and the US would not be in Afghanistan now had not the attacks at 9-11 happened, and had not the Afghan government declined to turn over the AQ suspects in that attack. The US is not there to mess with China or Russia. We are there to defeat an enemy that attacked us.
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well ya know the generals in Washington might not be as patient as the good Lt Col there. i'd bet my money on several offensive operations that is unprecedented in scale within this year and the next. the strategy works, but it only works if you plan to stay for a long time. what happens when the marines go home? i doubt the afghan police and their army would be able to operate as well under the same kind of framework as the marines did.
 
A

Ambivalent

Junior Member
pla101prc said:
well ya know the generals in Washington might not be as patient as the good Lt Col there. i'd bet my money on several offensive operations that is unprecedented in scale within this year and the next. the strategy works, but it only works if you plan to stay for a long time. what happens when the marines go home? i doubt the afghan police and their army would be able to operate as well under the same kind of framework as the marines did.
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Yup, that is the big IF. I don't think the Taliban are invincible though. They can be discredited with enough combat defeats and the inability to exert control over populated areas.
 
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