Our military is telling the administration they need more troops or all is lost. Not adding more troops, warned U.S. General Stanley McChrystal in a 66-page report to the Secretary of Defense on August 30th, “will likely result in failure.” Want more from this esteemed general? “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.” Yum! I’m old enough to remember when “escalator” was not a moving staircase… it was what our leadership seemed to be in Vietnam before we lost that battle.
Arab TV personality and bon vivant recluse (his name is so common, it is incorporated in “spell check”) – Osama bin Laden – issued one of his “warning tapes” on September 25th to the European powers to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan… because all is lost. He alluded to possible reprisals and reminded the Continent of past attacks in London and Madrid (more from his recorded message below). And the warm and fuzzy Taliban, tossed out on their posterior after 9/11, have never controlled more territory in Afghanistan since they were in command of the whole place! Oh, the Taliban remind us constantly of the resemblance of the current war to the utter defeat of Soviet forces in 1989, shortly before the USSR fell… all was lost.
Afghani opium production is still outrageously high, and the last “democratic election” that secured Mr. Hamid Karzai’s victory (he’s not in spell check, by the way), even with the most optimistic review, shows no less than 25% of the vote “suspect.” Like a full ballot box when the polls opened? We’re fighting for these dudes? In honor of the Jewish New Year, “oy!” So what we want is to keep the Taliban and al Qaeda out of Afghanistan – permanently – and what we have is the Taliban (with al Qaeda support) having more power and control than at any time in the past eight years. “Oy” again.
They love their safe havens across the border in Pakistan – an “ally” that really can never be our ally because the locals actually hate us – and operate with virtual impunity in the region. And true to bin Laden’s wishes, European nations participating in the NATO operation in Afghanistan (about 40% of the troops) are having second thoughts about staying. Many European leaders wonder what the odds are of Afghanistan’s remaining “Taliban/al Qaeda free” once the troops leave… which is sooner or later no matter which “plan” you adopt.
On September 4th, a German commander ordered a U.S. airstrike against two suspected fuel tanker trucks that were purportedly hijacked by Taliban fighters. While Taliban soldiers were killed in droves, so were 30 civilians that had nothing to do with the incident. The issue rapidly became an issue in the German elections, and cries for the removal of the 4,200 German troops in Afghanistan were less than subtle. Threats against Germany by various terrorist groups put that country’s police force on high alert. As noted, an increasingly greater number of European nations are beginning to question why their troops are part of the NATO strike force in Afghanistan and whether the objectives that such military operations were intended to accomplish are even possible. With elections looming all over Europe, if this sentiment continues, the U.S. could find itself fairly alone in any continued operations in this region.
Alluding to the above misdirected attack and addressing the killing of innocent women and children, Osama’s purported words continued: “You are aware that oppression topples those who commit it and injustice has unhealthy consequences for the unjust… So on what basis are you violating what you talk about holding in high esteem, like justice and human rights?... If today Europe is suffering the travails of the economic crisis, and the heart of Europe is no longer No. 1 in world exports, and America is reeling from the hemorrhage caused by the economic war, then how do you think you will fare after America pulls out, Allah permitting, for us to retaliate from the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed?”
It’s not like I think Americans should run from a fight, and I hate doing anything that Osama remotely wants. But fighting worms with safe havens… using sophisticated technology against a hit and run insurgency with increasingly local popular support… is a bit like attacking a huge underground nest of ants with a hammer. What I really don’t see… what no one in the Obama administration has presented… is a realistic plan for stabilizing Afghanistan in such a way that when we leave, it remains a safe and stable nation. And without that clear path, exactly what are we doing in Afghanistan?! Are we sacrificing American lives and spending American dollars for a cause that really can be accomplished?
I’m Peter Dekom, and I wonder.
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