With all the focus on Iraq, the headlines skip the Aghanistan-Pakistan problems.
Yesterday, the SecDef admitted in open session that NATO do not have enough troops for the "hold" part of clear-hold-build.
Few things can be worse for a counter-insurgency strategy.
Once you arrive and tell everyone, "trust us, we're here to protect you", no one believes you when you come back, after having been forced to leave. The "job" just gets that much more complex.
The mistakes made in Afghanistan probably rise very near to the level of Dereliction.
Meanwhile, the pressure on al-qa'ida worldwide can be seen, very broad brush, as stressing Pakistan. Our CIC thinks they just need more backbone to "fight al-qa'ida", but it's both that simple and a lot more complicated ...
Friday, April 11, 2008
Afghanistan - Now as much a Salvage Operation as Iraq?
