OK - we've all heard the hue and cry from the population - Osama bin Laden is dead (Thank you Seal Team 6) so lets pack our bags and get our troops out and back home immediately. While we're at it lets reduce our security procedures at all airports and go back to the way things were in the sweet 60's and 70's. Sure, that'll work...
Does anyone really believe that? Could it be that simple? Of course we know it's not. If only...
But where do we stand after exactly 10 years since an eclectic organization of Marines and various other US forces entered Afghanistan? Where they quickly set up a defensive perimeter around Bagram Airfield and got hold of a bunch of "Hoopties" to carry our forces to run the Taliban out of Kabul where our Marines re-secured our embassy and then continued to expand our toe-hold throughout all of the other cities? The effort was supported by the "Northern Alliance" a gathering of Afghan soldiers loyal to their respective warlords and operating under the guidance of some very brave US Government civilians and US Special Forces Soldiers.
Well, we don't seem to be any better off. We have two and a half combat zones still going on (Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa); we have two very big and obvious peace-keeping missions still active (Sinai and Korea); we are still active in Europe and the Pacific; and yet we are still being pinged by other countries to do more in support of operations in Libya (today) and other hot spots as they pop up. Our border situation is dismal and it has become a "state" mission of the National Guard to support border operations and drug interdiction so we add that mission to the list of things our military has to perform. With all of that we, along with the rest of the economically free world, are working feverishly to patch the stress fractures in our own economy while a long term solution is decided by our LEADERS in Washington. So we are worse off than that Tuesday morning where nearly 3,000 unarmed civilians were killed by madmen acting on orders of another madman who was allowed to operate in Afghanistan by the madmen that are in the Taliban, right?
I don't think so. I think that I can shop in a mall (should I actually want to...), attend any sports venue, drive on a fairly intricately engineered road network or travel freely without fear of losing my life on any form of mass transit. We are, in general, safe. The bad guys have not succeeded in mounting another major operation against our population because we are hitting the heart and soul of the terrorist community. It is taking time but it is proving beneficial while still being short of successful. Even the "lone wolves" are being thwarted before they have the ability to do their stuff. Even the ACLU has to understand that that is a good thing.
Because we are not fighting a country with a government it is confusing and taking more time than most Americans thought when we entered the fight. Most people figured that the country and the army of Afghanistan were the bad guys and once we toppled the Taliban regime all of the population would run out with roses and wine and kiss the GIs like they did in Italy and France. Terrorists are not soldiers of a country. They are soldiers of an ideology. An ideology that is abhorrent to us and to true followers of Islam who want to live peacefully in many countries.
So long as terrorist have the ability to fight we have to fight them. We eliminate them and ensure that any followers of their beliefs are identified and targeted and also eliminated. We follow-up with assistance to that country in helping stabilize their government and allowing them to provide support to their own citizens.
And that is where we are today. I truly believe that there are Al-Queda terrorists in this country that have to work as cab drivers and convenience store employees in order to live because they are not getting help from their HQ. I also believe that our efforts at striking directly into the heart of the organization ten years ago created enough disruption to their organization that they became more concerned about defending themselves than they did at striking out at western targets. I believe that our efforts to eradicate the opium distribution channels from Afghanistan, while faltering due to politics, has had an impact on the funding model of bin Laden's group. I believe that it took years of developing trust in the Afghans and a network of informants to finally find bin Laden in Pakistan and killing him. I believe that the rest of the information we have picked up is finally paying off in figuring out who is who and where they can be found and killed.
But - Afghanistan is not yet a stable place. It is too soon to pull out. We need to continue to train and assist the Afghans - at tribal level - to get them to manage their own security. Get away from the Karzai government and return to what worked ten years ago. Let our Special Ops people and intelligence people do their thing in getting rid of the problems by using Afghans to do it.
Sarmajor
Does anyone really believe that? Could it be that simple? Of course we know it's not. If only...
But where do we stand after exactly 10 years since an eclectic organization of Marines and various other US forces entered Afghanistan? Where they quickly set up a defensive perimeter around Bagram Airfield and got hold of a bunch of "Hoopties" to carry our forces to run the Taliban out of Kabul where our Marines re-secured our embassy and then continued to expand our toe-hold throughout all of the other cities? The effort was supported by the "Northern Alliance" a gathering of Afghan soldiers loyal to their respective warlords and operating under the guidance of some very brave US Government civilians and US Special Forces Soldiers.
Well, we don't seem to be any better off. We have two and a half combat zones still going on (Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa); we have two very big and obvious peace-keeping missions still active (Sinai and Korea); we are still active in Europe and the Pacific; and yet we are still being pinged by other countries to do more in support of operations in Libya (today) and other hot spots as they pop up. Our border situation is dismal and it has become a "state" mission of the National Guard to support border operations and drug interdiction so we add that mission to the list of things our military has to perform. With all of that we, along with the rest of the economically free world, are working feverishly to patch the stress fractures in our own economy while a long term solution is decided by our LEADERS in Washington. So we are worse off than that Tuesday morning where nearly 3,000 unarmed civilians were killed by madmen acting on orders of another madman who was allowed to operate in Afghanistan by the madmen that are in the Taliban, right?
I don't think so. I think that I can shop in a mall (should I actually want to...), attend any sports venue, drive on a fairly intricately engineered road network or travel freely without fear of losing my life on any form of mass transit. We are, in general, safe. The bad guys have not succeeded in mounting another major operation against our population because we are hitting the heart and soul of the terrorist community. It is taking time but it is proving beneficial while still being short of successful. Even the "lone wolves" are being thwarted before they have the ability to do their stuff. Even the ACLU has to understand that that is a good thing.
Because we are not fighting a country with a government it is confusing and taking more time than most Americans thought when we entered the fight. Most people figured that the country and the army of Afghanistan were the bad guys and once we toppled the Taliban regime all of the population would run out with roses and wine and kiss the GIs like they did in Italy and France. Terrorists are not soldiers of a country. They are soldiers of an ideology. An ideology that is abhorrent to us and to true followers of Islam who want to live peacefully in many countries.
So long as terrorist have the ability to fight we have to fight them. We eliminate them and ensure that any followers of their beliefs are identified and targeted and also eliminated. We follow-up with assistance to that country in helping stabilize their government and allowing them to provide support to their own citizens.
And that is where we are today. I truly believe that there are Al-Queda terrorists in this country that have to work as cab drivers and convenience store employees in order to live because they are not getting help from their HQ. I also believe that our efforts at striking directly into the heart of the organization ten years ago created enough disruption to their organization that they became more concerned about defending themselves than they did at striking out at western targets. I believe that our efforts to eradicate the opium distribution channels from Afghanistan, while faltering due to politics, has had an impact on the funding model of bin Laden's group. I believe that it took years of developing trust in the Afghans and a network of informants to finally find bin Laden in Pakistan and killing him. I believe that the rest of the information we have picked up is finally paying off in figuring out who is who and where they can be found and killed.
But - Afghanistan is not yet a stable place. It is too soon to pull out. We need to continue to train and assist the Afghans - at tribal level - to get them to manage their own security. Get away from the Karzai government and return to what worked ten years ago. Let our Special Ops people and intelligence people do their thing in getting rid of the problems by using Afghans to do it.
Sarmajor
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