The head of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan has finally admitted what has been whispered and what friends who are serving over there have told me- we are losing the war in Afghanistan. We have almost no chance of stopping the opium trade over there by force and, therefore, halting the main source of funds for the Taliban. Despite our strategic strikes on their strongholds in the south, the Taliban are setting up shadow governments and courts in there and are moving out from those strongholds, infiltrating into formerly stable areas in the north and west. U.S. casualties are higher now than at any other time in the war and show no signs of decreasing in the near future.
This is a far cry from where we were almost 8 years ago, when the American public was assured that Afghanistan and the terrorists hiding there were “bombed back into the Stone Age.” We were told that the Taliban were destroyed, that there was nothing left but a few isolated pockets of resistance, and that complete and total victory was a short time in coming. In fact, we didn't even really need to give it our best effort, because our victory was such a foregone conclusion that we needed to focus on Iraq instead. I think the Soviets said about the same thing when they started their decade long conflict with Afghanistan that helped train a generation of mujahideen guerilla fighters. The Soviets lost and they were next door!
It is expected that General McChrystal will make a recommendation for increased troop support in Afghanistan, as well as for increased interaction with locals and national forces in Afghanistan at all levels. He is in favor of an increased military presence in the southern city of Kandahar, with one of the goals being to provide civilian protection. This change in course, according to McChrystal, is needed, and needed now. So far there has not been a huge outpouring of support for the results of the General's assessment, which would at the very least demand a shift in troops and objectives from offensive strikes to more of a defensive mode.
There have been a lot of comparisons drawn, and not unjustly, between the conflict in Iraq and Vietnam. There are some comparisons to be made between Vietnam and Afghanistan as well, but they are not the same war. Like Vietnam, it is a war that is ours to win, should we choose at this critical juncture to take the step of more fully committing to the war effort. Over the last 8 years, we have placed ourselves in a must win scenario. Unlike Vietnam, we had, and continue to have, foreign support for military efforts there, but if we cannot show progress toward winning this conflict, we will begin to see that support erode like it has for Iraq.
The Afghanis brought the Soviets to their knees, by winning the war of attrition and by using all the weapons at their disposal, including their children, to fight back. It is these very same children who became the Taliban and who are now fighting against our troops there. They are within grasp of adding a defeat of the Americans to their credit.
While I can't say that I was in favor of either war at the start, we have moved past the point of philosophical debate on this. We must end this war decisively, and in our favor, with as much good PR as possible. We need pictures of grateful women without burqas and children hugging handsome American GIs, and cheering people on the streets watching American military convoys come by. We need Afghani farmers who are not so poor and so afraid of retribution that they feel the need to plant poppies for drugs. We need to show that supporting the U.S. is not supporting the “white devil” and that democracy and self-determination can exist had in hand. But unless we win the war, all the world will see are the backs of the U.S. military force as they retreat from a ragtag bunch of guerillas, heads hanging. After 8 years and billions of dollars, we, our allies, and our supporters in this war, deserve better.
Laura Bramble
THE RED MENACE
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Laura Bramble
The Truth Sets In
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