Separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, what we have in Afghanistan is called “Mission Creep” in Pentagonese.

The original mission in the ‘stan was to kill terrs (AQ, Taliban, etc.), AKA “Bug Hunt” in milspeak. This mission got off to a good start and is going VERY well.
The problem with bug hunts is there is no glory there. There is no glory in any war for the grunts. Glory is claimed by the Generals. McCrystal wants to be the General that conquered Afghanistan, which would give him a place in history, since the last General to do that was Genghis Khan who isn’t a bad guy to be mentioned with, as far as Generals go. Like sharing a record with Pele or Tiger Woods.
Two problems with that from McCrystal’s POV.
First, conquering Afghanistan wasn’t the mission. Second Afghanistann isn’t really a nation/state. If the good General can mission creep the ‘stan into a nation building mission then he solves BOTH the problems in one fell swoop.
As a bug hunt, logistics isn’t an issue. I bring this up because modern warfare is about logistics. Guerrilla, Insurgency warfare, civil wars, or any of the other forms of small wars are not logistics based. True guerrillas depend on their enemy for logistics support, which is one distinction between the ‘G’ and state sponsored terrorism. Hezbo’allah gets their weapons from Iran, not the Israelis.
By trying to re-make Afghanistan into a more conventional war, the good General runs the risk of creating another Bataan. That’s right, Bataan, not vietnam. That would be the goal for the ISI and Taliban, not a Vietnam. Cut the logistics train like Battan and the Talibam will have about 80,000 US Soldiers as hostages. A beheading a day for a Looooooooong time.
As the French have pointed out, this President is a pussy. He will fold under that sort of pressure.
My back of the envelop calculation shows 100,000 to be the maximum number of troops that can be supported in the event of the supply lines being cut by Pakistan and Russia. And that is if those 100,000 troops do nothing but protect the airfield from ManPADS.
My traing was military, not political, so I don’t worry about intentions. Both Russia and Pakistan are capable of cutting the logistc trail into Afghanistan, so we must plan for them doing so.
The solution is to stick with the original mission and pull out the Army. The Army is just to awkard for bug hunts. They tend to want to burn down the building to get rid of the bugs. While arson has it’s place in the great scheme of things, this isn’t it.
Send in the Marines. A Marine Division would be able to finish off AQ and put a real dent into the Taliban. A 2 carrier BG will provide all the air support needed. Put into effect the GC rules on journalism and let the Jarheads hunt bugs. The Marines enjoy it, the ‘gani’s enjoy it, even the terrs will enjoy it. Allow the media in ONLY as embeds, which the Geneva Convention allows. In a few years the ‘stan won’t be an issue and in a generation, there might actually be a Nation/Sate there. I wouldn’t bet on that, but stranger things have happened.