A frontline view on "winning"
Mr. Dion, Mr. Layton, Mr. Duceppe, take note of these words from an Afghan:
I'm not saying the guy's a counterinsurgency expert, or that his advice on how to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people should be taken as the gospel truth.
What I am saying is that ordinary Afghans living with life-and-death uncertainty in the personal security of their families understand that "combat" is an important part of the overall task of rebuilding the Afghan nation.
Why don't you?
"This bridge will make a huge difference because it can take about five hours to go around the canal when the water is high during the winter. But I want to win this war first and build bridges later." [Babbler's emphasis]
I'm not saying the guy's a counterinsurgency expert, or that his advice on how to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people should be taken as the gospel truth.
What I am saying is that ordinary Afghans living with life-and-death uncertainty in the personal security of their families understand that "combat" is an important part of the overall task of rebuilding the Afghan nation.
Why don't you?
posted by Babbling Brooks at 9:43 a.m.
2 Comments:
I take your point, and that of the Afghan. However, building roads and bridges is an important part of COIN. Reducing transport costs leads to improved incomes, which raises the opportunity cost of being a Taleban in the hills relative to staying in the village and making a living. Also, relatively untrained village self-defense militia can still set night ambushes near roads, making it more difficult for bands of guerrillas or guerrilla messengers to cross roads. The Roman army spent much of its time building roads, as did the early French Foreign Legion, both using road building as part of a pacification strategy.
I agree, Acad Ronin, which is why I qualified the statement the way I did in the post.
But it's instructive that I have yet to see an Afghan quoted who believes the way forward involves no combat at all, as Layton, Dion, and Duceppe would have you believe.
I quoted the Afghan gentleman in the post to illustrate that it was quite the opposite.
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