"Eight months on, the Taliban are still here in force, waging a full-blown guerrilla insurgency that rages daily across a bomb-riddled landscape of agricultural fields and irrigation trenches.
As U.S. involvement in the war enters its 10th year, the failure to pacify this town raises questions about the effectiveness of America's overall strategy. Similarly crucial operations are now under way in neighboring Kandahar province, the Taliban's birthplace." googlenews
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As I said last spring, Marjah is a decisive test of whether or not COIN (nation building) is feasible, practical and likely as a strategy for the US and its coalition partners.
If you can't do it there, you can't do it anywhere there is a really serious and disaffected population. pl
A seriously disaffected population. A seriously disaffected ally. A seriously dis-functioning central government. A supply line that, if not for the bribes, could be cut to pieces at any time, and is being torched right in front of our eyes. How much fuel did we lose, one week's worth, or one month's worth? At what cost? An Afghan economy that can never afford the national army and police forces we are trying to stand up.
Tell me again, St. Dave, what are we doing there? Nation building in a place we have little legitimacy, when at home we suffer from 18% real unemployment? How much sense does this make? If this is grand strategy, I want a whole lot less of it.
Posted by: John Waring | 08 October 2010 at 08:33 PM
Murdoch press today says we are "winning " in Southern Afghanistan.
Que?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/taliban-on-verge-of-collapse-nato-and-afghan-officials-believe/story-e6frg6so-1225935962365
Posted by: walrus | 09 October 2010 at 02:35 AM
Islam is all about faith. Where confidence ends, faith begins.
Confidence is centered in the ego but what happens when the ego is shattered due to surrounding circumstances? What happens to confidence in COIN when its tenets are annihilated?
Posted by: Sidney O. Smith III | 09 October 2010 at 06:56 AM
In the 19th century, an engineer would stay under a newly-built bridge during its first trial by a heavy train. Now a simple question: When will the designers and influential promoters of the obviously flawed foreign policies are brought to justice? The enormous wealth (communal) has been squandered and as a result the overall global insecurity increased.
Two words come to mind: treason and cowardice.
Posted by: Anna-Marina | 09 October 2010 at 01:06 PM
The author of that article walrus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Loyd
Part of the establishment.
Posted by: Freindly_Fire | 09 October 2010 at 01:49 PM
Done 9 years ago, 100k troops and COIN might have had some effect for the good...done 9 years into a conflict that has been half assed from the get go, COIN has no chance of working. The kids that were 10 when we rolled through pushing the Taliban and Al Qaeda into Pakistan are now 19-20 year olds...they grew up seeing how much we "cared" about their country this decade...
Posted by: Cesar Arroyo | 10 October 2010 at 10:48 PM