Max Boot, Fred Kagan and Kim Kagan were among the first to call for the surge in Iraq. In today's Gray Lady, they explain how it can be done--and why it will succeed--in Afghanistan.
Again, the essence of surge strategy is to improve the security of the general populace. Boot and the Kagans note that the odds of success in Afghanistan actually appear better than they did in Iraq, where the surge has succeeded even more than most of its advocates expected.
We urge readers to continue beyond the opening paragraph, which subtly excoriates the President for saying that we aren't winning in Afghanistan. Obviously it takes a while to get used to the idea that your words are heard by everyone in the world and matter to them.
4 comments:
I think the main reason the surge is working in Iraq is because we're paying Iraqis—somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 a day, I believe—who would otherwise be fighting against us to be on our side. Money, it appears, trumps ideology, especially when you need to eat. I suspect the same strategy would work in Afghanistan.
What is evidently working with the warlords in Afghanistan has been offering the warlords unlimited viagra.
Money has been the downfall of Afghanistan, we payed off the warlords nearly from the start of US involvement. I can see the "surge" work over in Afghanistan, but it has to be a country-wide effort and needs to have a heavily coordinated effort involving Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations and Information Operations, as well as infantry. The resources right now are just stretched too far across a very violent region. I hope that these extra troops will make a difference, but I personally feel that we need more troops there if we want to ensure safety for the country. Until we are able to actually lock down the border we can do little to stop in the movement of the Taliban between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The spring is coming fast we will soon see what kind of Taliban we will be fighting this year.
After reading that I see that many of my points are vague or non-existent. I'll try to re-write after class.
Post a Comment