A US soldier stands guard in Ghazni city west of Kabul in 2007. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is considering sending some 3,000 additional marines to Afghanistan to boost forces ahead of a Taliban spring offensive, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday.(AFP/File/Mohammad Yaqubi)
- The "Taliban" are not in caves or in 'tribal areas'. Apparently they have "strongholds" inside Afghanistan. The ISAF cleared a town last month, Musa Qala, in Helmand Province (heroin labs), that had been held for ... 10 months (!) by Taliban forces, killing 200+ and sending the rest into the cold winter's night.
- We surged last year near this time. We're surging again, most likely (another 3,000). The entire project is under "strategic review". President Karzai is suggesting a 10-year need for coalition forces and more equipment and material for the fledgling police/army. The Dutch have announced a definitive withdrawal date (July, 2010). The Canadians, on the other hand, are building new operating bases. The U.S.'s boys are getting bigger weapons - 155mm Howitzers (!) to secure some spots.
- 2008 is looking like a bumper-crop year for poppies (and canibus, where it has replaced opium).
- COIN is ... losing. Afghans, although brighter than Iraqis, show that the violence - frequently post-verbal horror - is taking a serious toll on optimism and confidence. Yet, the military, civilian and otherwise, keep saying there is cause for hope.
- "COIN" is deadly. From the ad-hoc figures, the capture-to-kill in Afghanistan is 1-to-10. In Iraq, ad-hoc figures have come down to something like 10-to-1.
- On the bright side, one report suggests that the Taliban are increasingly relying on foreign fighters, even though others suggest a fairly organized command-and-control structure.
