A Strategy For Success in Afghanistan: One Tribe at a Time (by SF Major Jim Gant)

[jpillian]

Just had this forwarded to me by an Army buddy (and fellow Redskins fan). This is a pretty compelling paper written by a Major in the US Army Special Forces by the name of Jim Gant. Presents a lot excellent insights into what seems to work in Afghanistan. Fascinating stuff.

Thought I'd pass it along to my ES brethren who are interested in our ongoing conflicts.

One Tribe At a Time

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

this is fascinating....when I got to the part about them showing why America was in Afghanistan and he didnt know anything about it, I realized that it was probably the majority feeling - they dont know why we're there and what happened.

[Fergasun]

We're eventually going to abandon them, so we might as well do so now.

I don't like the "what scares me most" section. At the end.

I know the military doesn't like to hear such talk, and is indignant about it; but we are a democracy. You'd like to win the wars that you fight, and leave with honor. But you are bound by political constraints as well. Recently I've seen a lot of talk from military that makes me chafe, particularly some of the mil-bloggers. You're not supposed to ***** and complain about your orders. I didn't read the Woodward book that came up about Afghanistan, but I got that sense from the news about the time it was released that this was going on with Obama. The military didn't give him the option that he most wanted.

As much as I am proud to have the best military in the world; I'd like them to submit to the democratic (adjective not noun) leaders of the country.

[jpillian]

I hear what you're saying, Ferguson -- you certainly don't want the military to outright disobey the will of its political leaders.

On the other hand, in a democracy, I would expect for the soldiers on the ground -- who have often invested several years of their lives in the endeavor, to have fairly strong opinions on what should be taking place. I wouldn't want them muzzled either in expressing their opinions.

As for this paper, I really didn't see it as anything other than an analysis of what techniques worked for this A-team, and how these lessons learned could be used more widely to ultimately win in Afghanistan.

[Fergasun]

On some military blogs I've seen some comments against policies implemented by Obama and the Congress. For instance, one Navy blog I read has a section railing against "Diversity Bullies" just about weekly. Certainly, it's a debate worth having, however the blog fails to realize that the reason the military has all these diversity problems is not the CNO or other Navy folks, it's Congress. I think there is some national interest in ensuring a diverse military... and it is hard to prove who got approved based on their racial background or gender. I agree they are invested in Iraq and Afghanistan, but any talk of withdrawal is nearly responded to with "abject failure", "why are we giving up". I wonder if Obama gave the order for immediate withdrawal if the military would do so. Maybe the military top brass would do so, but I think that I'd be fearful of the lower levels getting angry.

We already had McChrystal getting canned, in fact I don't think many military folks were happy with that. There was a comment where Mullen called our fiscal deficit the "greatest national security threat" (paraphrasing). I think that is completely uncalled for, yet I didn't hear anyone in Congress or the media refudiate that or say that it was an inappropriate comment to come from the military. Calls for Petraeus to run for President in 2012. Certainly with Ike we had a good experience with a military President, however politics is racheted up 10-fold.

On the other hand how do we balance the input from the military in Democracy?

[HailGreen28]

Great story and link. Thanks!

[Ryman of the North]

this link is great. I think its an indictment of the liberal anti war morons who dont understand that most of americas problems NOW stem from getting involved in other peoples battles and then abandoning their allies prematurely because of pressure from the anti war lobby. This is a clear concise plan with a great chance of success, so of course it will not be implemented by morons who depend on the good grace of other morons for their paycheck.

bottom line, we have the tools and we have the people with the knowledge, the issue is that the ones with the knowledge arent running the show.