We can't win Afghanistan war - Commander
The Independent
Sunday, 5 October 2008
The public should not expect "a decisive military victory" in Afghanistan, Britain's most senior military commander in the country warned today. Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the aim was to reduce the uprising to a level at which it could be managed by the Afghan army and made clear that this could involve talking to the Taliban. It was necessary to "lower our expectations" and accept that it would be unrealistic to expect that multinational forces can entirely rid Afghanistan of armed bands, he suggested.
Brig Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, which has just completed its second tour of Afghanistan, told the Sunday Times that his forces had "taken the sting out of the Taliban for 2008". But he added: "We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army. "We may well leave with there still being a low but steady ebb of rural insurgency."
Brig Carleton-Smith said the aim should be to change the nature of the debate in Afghanistan so that disputes were settled by negotiation and not violence. "If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that's precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this," he said. "That shouldn't make people uncomfortable."
[It sounds to me that Brigadier Carleton-Smith is onto something here…..]
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5 comments:
The war in Afghanistan cannot be won by conventional military tactics. What they need is economic development and educational support. The Taliban rose to power because of a political and economic vacuum that rose in the midst of a lack of education. The only way for that to change is from the ground up, not the top down. You'd think I wrote a thesis on this or something ;)
Winnable wars belong to the age of State Vs State wars, armies and battlefields. I don't think we're in that age anymore.
Today's wars drag on for year after year, decade after decade until there is no one left to fight.
'Winning' in Afghanistan isn't really an option - its all about leaving with our reputation intact.
Well yes, if you define "winning" as the 'defeat' of an 'enemy' through military means. In this case, the 'defeat' would be the gradual rejection of the ideas that gave birth to the Taliban in favor of democratic government and ideals that benefit all citizens and the ability of a central government to gain the trust of the outlying areas enough for Afghanistan to be a real and stable state.
Laura, I think that will takes generations if its possible at all. Democracy may not be the best form of Government for every country.
We can't just import our particular form of government with all of its historical preconditions and expect it to work in places like Afganistan (or Iraq for that matter).
Oh, I agree... hence the education part of it. It has to be built from the ground up and the people (normal everyday people -especially women) have to have security and protection to enact their rights and have the power to transform their own society. We can help by providing some security, but mostly through economic and developmental aid.
Actually, I think you'd like my thesis. I'll email it to you if you want...
In most areas, girls cannot attend traditional school because of security concerns and distance. For boys, the Taliban's madressas are the cheapest options.
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