Give Obama a pass on Afghanistan
September 23, 2009
Obama and many on the Left suggested the real fight was in Afghanistan, while Iraq was an unnecessary distraction. Without rehashing that old argument it is important to note that Obama is now reconsidering his original position, having to decide whether or not the ‘real fight’ in Afghanistan is worth the price. My opinion is that a strategy shift is necessary. The Soviets spent a decade fighting in Afghanistan – a war that cost the lives of more than 14,000 Soviet soldiers and more than 1,000,000 Afghans. The only way to end a war in Afghanistan is to kill everyone – this sort of genocide is impossible to justify. We need a new plan and everyone should give Obama a pass as he sorts through the various options.
I am all for taking the fight to our enemies. I don’t mind crushing the Taliban day after day, but why make the fight fair? Or as John Lyly wrote in 1578, “The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war.” Our control of the skies over Afghanistan is incontrovertible. Our UAVs allow our service people to sit in air conditioned bunkers safe inside of Georgia and Nevada while they kill the enemy. This manned and unmanned air superiority combined with small, nimble fighters (Seals, Marines, Rangers) allows us to kill the enemy while risking very few American lives. The truth is we can’t stop the Taliban unless we kill every Afghani citizen – instead our only option is to contain them. We don’t need thousands of additional troops – we need fewer troops and more UAVs. What do the Taliban have to say? Their leaders say, “The more troops they send, the more targets we have“. The Taliban can’t win if they can’t kill us. If we aren’t there they can’t kill us and as a result they can’t win.
We keep fighting our enemies as if they are a single, monolithic entity. The Taliban isn’t a single entity – but a bunch of very small, but determined fighters. We don’t need a huge force to counter them – instead we need a VERY small force to constantly harrass them. Daniel Korski has an interesting article in the Guardian that explores the fallacies we embraced during the cold war compared with the fallacies of the war we are fighting with the Taliban. At the end of the day if we convince the Taliban that there is no price to be paid by Americans they may eventually tire of dying for nothing. If we keep supplying them with fresh American troops to kill they will NEVER give up.
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Wow, I really enjoyed your blog. Right on!!!!!
Comment by Tari — September 23, 2009 @ 11:25 am
Interesting angle and I believe it has some merit.
Comment by Rick — September 23, 2009 @ 3:47 pm