Length: 427 Words Reading Time: 2 Minutes
I continue to be disappointed by the mindset exemplified by the smartest men in the room, both civilian and military, regarding the War in Afghanistan. It reminds me of the “best and brightest” thinking during the Vietnam War, in which I served as a Naval Officer with the Seabees.
I worked in Saudi Arabia for almost 25 years for Saudi Aramco and had many Afghan friends who were carpet dealers in Al-Khobar, Dammam, and Jeddah. To a man, they loved America and Americans. I suspect that is no longer the case now, after almost 18 years of war and occupation.
The War in Afghanistan was denoted the good war by Mr. Obama versus the bad war in Iraq when he became President of the United States in 2009. If memory serves, we invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, and we have been there ever since. The War in Afghanistan lost its way after the initial invasion and payback against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban for the 9/11 Attack. It morphed into a war clearly lacking in strategic goals or purpose, and without a rational exit strategy.
Mr. Jonathan Burks suggests in his opinion piece that we should create a group to study the War in Afghanistan to generate some “fresh thinking.” To me, this suggestion is both wrongheaded and without merit, and I am being kind. This recommendation comes from an individual who was the chief of staff for Paul Ryan and who had 18 years of service in the legislative and executive branches. That gives me great pause and concern.
I believe we have enough information and intelligence to make an informed decision regarding the War in Afghanistan, if we clear the decks of civilian and military ego, jargon, and obfuscation. The Department of Defense and related intelligence organizations should be able to put together simple, coherent presentations on the pros and cons of the war and the strategic issues involved. Then, present these two scenarios to President Trump and his national security team to decide which case is more compelling and in the best interests of the United States. If they (DOD and The Intelligence Community) cannot do this in a timely fashion (say two weeks), then they should not be in the positions they hold.
We have squandered the lives of too many of America’s finest young men and women in these wars. One war we should never have continued (Afghanistan) and a second one we should never have started (Iraq). To what advantage are these protracted, drawn-out conflicts, I ask myself: my answer, absolutely none.
I agree a decision needs to be made concerning this war and military operations as a whole. My personal belief on the matter is this, once political solutions have failed and military assets have to be emoyeed, minimal civilian oversight should be used! The military should be allowed use all means and assets necessary to bring an end as quickly as possible. That is what we train them for! I compare the current use of of our military forces to a guard dog on a chain, politicians have our armed forces on a chain, they train them and provide them with the best intelligence, technology and weapons know to man, they work them up until they are foaming at the mouth. Then they deploy them, only letting the chain out so far, then they restrain them in the name of political correctness! It is obscene and atrocious!!! I don’t care how the world views how we conduct military operations. The U.N. ask a lot of our military forces, and make us flip most of bill, and half heartedly provide support. We have become the world’s “BIG STICK”. Then they criticize how we do the dirty work, its almost comical!
I say operations should definitely be ramped up in Afganistan once and for all, politicians should butt out, let our boys pulverize the enemy with extreme prejudice, by using any and all means necessary, let the UN clean it so that if anything fails after we leave it’s their fault and we do not become the whipping boy.
Dear Kade, With all due respect, I see it much differently. I lived in Saudi Arabia for almost 25 years and had several Afghani friends who sold carpets to finance their Hajj trips to Mecca. Our first military action as a response to the 9/11 Attack was clearly justified and made sense. Thereafter, our continued presence in Afghanistan was wrongheaded and a terrible waste of resources and good will in the region. America really does not understand the Middle East and the Sub-Continent. No westerner does. In my opinion, the course of action that should have been taken after Al-Qaeda was “destroyed” and the Taliban was “removed” from power should have been a meeting of all tribal leaders called by a senior U.S. military representative who spoke either Farsi (now Dari) or Pashto or both. The U.S. should have hosted this meeting of tribal leaders, fed the attendees with a great banquet, and then told them the following: The United States respects the people, the culture, and the independence of Afghanistan as a sovereign nation and wishes always to be a friend of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan in all matters. We have accomplished what we came to do. We have removed the Taliban from power and we have destroyed Al-Qaeda because of its attack on the World Trade Center in America. America expects the people and government of Afghanistan to remain America’s friend and to ensure that the Taliban does not return to power and that Al-Qaeda does not become a force of nature in your country again. If Afghanistan is not able to do what we ask, and America has to return, we will not return with ground troops, because we do not want to sacrifice our young men and women in our military. America will only attack with bombs and missiles. We hope that America does not have to do that. America wants to be at peace with your noble country. I hope this is well understood by everyone. Thank you.
That simple and straightforward. Power speaks volumes in the Middle East. One final comment: Afghanistan has never been conquered by anyone and because of its decentralized tribal structure, democracy or anything like democracy will not work. America is foolish to think so.