Afghanistan, in Today's News 03.04-07.10

Afghanistan. On to Kandahar!!!  The United States and its 'allies' having conquered a rural and mostly deserted, undefended Marjah, is now ready to push on to Kandahar. 

Kandahar is a city of some 700,000 that is supposedly a center of the Taliban. The US strategy is to form a security zone around the city, to cut off inflow and outflow of the Taliban.

This action may have been a good idea in the middle ages when a castle or walled city was put under siege. But in the context of the modern world and the current type of warfare, the security zone is doomed to futility. First, in the terrain of Afghanistan, the 'allies' cannot hope to seal off the city. 

Second, all 700,000 inhabitants can't be Taliban. Thus, it is inevitable that lots and lots of innocent people are going to be antagonized by the inconvenience of check points, and especially check points by foreigners. 

Third, the surrounding tactic has been tried many times since World War II, all without success. The first attempt was in Algeria, where the French tried fruitlessly to isolate the Casbah. It didn't work and the French soon went home.

But, this is the type of strategy that the Israelis advocate and carry out against the Palestinians. And therefore, given the present mind-frame in Washington, the American war-planners think the strategy has to be a good one.

Afghanistan, in Today's News 02.11.10

Afghanistan. The soon-to-occur, much heralded US military offensive in the Marjah district of Afghanistan is receiving lots of media coverage. The Wall Street Journal today has a 27-inch article on page A17.

The gist of the offensive seems to be to establish a US foothold in the area and move the district into the central government's sphere of authority. The problem is that the local population wants nothing to do with it. As the district governor says, "People here are on the side of the insurgency and have no trust in the government. Insurgents are in their villages 24 hours." [Quoted in the WSJ.] 

To get a flavor of the atmosphere, read what Lt. Col Reik Anderson, a battalion commander, has to say. "Villagers were just livid with me. Because so much lethality was going on, they said that the kids are crying, the women are scared" whenever helicopters appear. [Quoted in the WSJ.]

The people in these villages have lived a certain way for hundreds of years. To say the least, their ways are settled. Now the US comes along and intends to set up a whole different way of life with western-oriented hospitals and schools, etc. It is natural that the villagers would be distrustful of this change, especially when it is not understood, and especially when it is imposed by military force.

Can the US prevail? Well, the American forces have dubbed Pashmul, a cluster of villages west of Kandahar city as "the heart of darkness." That kind of lack of respect for a culture that has existed longer than the US is easily spotted by the villagers. Their resistance cannot be broken simply because they have no use for a country and culture that lords it over them and insists that the villagers' way of life is no good.

Anyone who has lived through the Vietnam war will recognize the US verbiage and tactics being used here. The Vietnamese didn't appreciate it too much, and neither will the Afghans. 

Afghanistan, in Today's News 02.02.10

Afghanistan. Today's Wall Street Journal has a report on the 'allied' plans to secure Kandahar in the spring of this year. The plans come complete with three concentric rings: a ring of stability, a ring of security, and a ring of deep fight. The allied coalition plans to stabilize this spring the stability ring, which includes Kandahar and major satellite towns.

One wonders if they have stopped studying history at the military academies. There is nothing new is these plans. They have all been tried before, many times, as far back as Algeria. These type of plans have failed each time.

Why have they failed? Because it is all paper, dreamed up schemes, that have nothing to do with the real life in the war situation. It is epitomized by a statement by Canadian Brig. General Daniel Menard, the commander of the Task Force Kandahar, "They [the Taliban] will not fight us when and where they want. We will fight them when and where we want, and that is a huge change."

This is just dreaming. Already in the last two weeks the Taliban has struck in their own fashion where they wanted, almost toppling the Kabul regime. In the meantime the 'allies' were concentrating in a whole different area of the country.

In other words, the Taliban is fighting when and where it wants.

All this 'allied' activity comes down to busy work, designed to look like something meaningful is being done. All the while the Taliban is building its real support throughout the country.

Well, at least the next few months should be entertaining.