George Will recounts a letter from an NCO serving in Afghanistan:
Receiving mortar fire during an overnight mission, his unit called for a 155mm howitzer illumination round to be fired to reveal the enemy’s location. The request was rejected “on the grounds that it may cause collateral damage.” The NCO says that the only thing that comes down from an illumination round is a canister, and the likelihood of it hitting someone or something was akin to that of being struck by lightning.
Returning from a mission, his unit took casualties from an improvised explosive device that the unit knew had been placed no more than an hour earlier. “There were villagers laughing at the U.S. casualties” and “two suspicious individuals were seen fleeing the scene and entering a home.” U.S. forces “are no longer allowed to search homes without Afghan National Security Forces personnel present.” But when his unit asked Afghan police to search the house, the police refused on the grounds that the people in the house “are good people.”
AdvertisementOn another mission, some Afghan adults ran off with their children immediately before the NCO’s unit came under heavy small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and the unit asked for artillery fire on the enemy position. The response was a question: Where is the nearest civilian structure? “Judging distances,” the NCO writes dryly, “can be difficult when bullets and RPGs are flying over your head.” When the artillery support was denied because of fear of collateral damage, the unit asked for a “smoke mission” — like an illumination round; only the canister falls to earth — “to conceal our movement as we planned to flank and destroy the enemy.” This request was granted — but because of fear of collateral damage, the round was deliberately fired one kilometer off the requested site, making “the smoke mission useless and leaving us to fend for ourselves.”
I’ve said all along that I don’t think the President’s “surge” in Afghanistan is likely to achieve successes commensurate with its risks and costs — in treasure and blood. I’ve also said all along that I still wish Obama — and the military, and the country — success. Winning a war is far more important than any partisan advantage, even though that but of wisdom is too often lost on the Left.
All that aside, I no longer think that upping the Afghan ante is unlikely to work. Right I’m damn sure it’s doomed.
Please, Mr. President, if you’re going to commit, then commit. Lives are on the line.
First observation: if memory serves, the President doesn’t set ROE; that’s the purview of the DoD or theater command.
Second observation: every time I read a story like this, my BS sensors light up. No name, no unit, no dates. Do not trust anonymous sources.
That’s not to say it isn’t accurate, but I’ve found that most of the time such sources aren’t that reliable.
The President, particularly _this_ President,
does as he Damn well pleases, and expects his
people to cover for him as required; He also
has a tendency to punish people who criticize
him, if he can find out who they are.
Changing Afghanistan is a multi _generational_ mission.
Fortunately, it is not necessary; Make each Khan, including the Mayor of Kabul, a sovereign secure in his own realm,
and negotiate with him as an individual: So much gold for a
kilo of opium, so much for the head of a taliban terrorist,
the right to build a road, or a mine on his territory.
“legitimate, representative government” is diplomatic
doubletalk for corrupt, oppressive, resource-raping
dictatorship, which is what Karzai wants the US to set up
for his benefit. This sort of deal was an unpleasant
necessity in the 19th century; In the 21st, the US can
do a better job.
The reason it’s tough is that the success/failure of any of these foreign adventures is a multi-decade question.
Besides the tactical ROE point in the Will letter, the really hard questions have to do with whether the US succeeds in supporting a legitimate, representative government that can support a mining economy based upon those recently found resources.
Not a bad reason to support Petraeus in 2012, if McCain doesn’t talk him to death.
That trillion-dollar find is likely to make matters worse, not better.
Abundant mineral wealth never once helped a nation create a “legitimate, representative government.” Quite the opposite, in fact.
Coal & iron in England. Iron in the Saar basin. Gold and uranium in Canada. Gold, iron, coal, copper, etc, etc, in the United States. Gold, copper, and uranium in Australia.
Yep. Abundant mineral wealth can be a bitch.
Yeah, I know that’s not what you meant, Stephen, but I couldn’t resist the snark.
What’s really sad is that many agencies knew there was untold mineral wealth in Afghanistan for decades, but what was the point? It wasn’t economically practical to go there. How many people here know that Afghanistan only just recently celebrated the opening of it’s very first rail line!? In the twenty-first-freaking-century?? The goods were there, but there was no practical way to get them out.
To be honest, the American invasion -and subsequent infrastructure buildup- is the reason it is becoming economically feasible to exploit those resources today.
Dan D.: Um, no. We are in Afghanistan because that country acted as a host for a terrorist organization which caused untold damage to this country. We can’t afford to let that happen again. Pakistan and Iran are peripheral to that object.
There are those who have proposed alternative approaches. Jerry Pournelle once said the best bet would have been invading both countries, shooting those in charge, telling those left “Make sure we don’t have to come back,” then leaving. Certainly it would have been cheaper. I’ll note here that Pournelle also notes that we could have spent all that Iraq war money on several dozen new nuke reactors, making us that much more energy-independent.
The question here is: is it worth our while to stick it out a little bit longer in that country, in order that we do well while doing good?
On the other hand, all of this is moot while we have Woody Wilson, Jr. in office, his feet firmly planted in the clouds. Dumb bastiche still probably takes the Kellogg-Briand Pact seriously.
These countries generaly had rule of law before major discoveries were made. That seems to make all the difference.
…Oh, Lord, here we go again with the “good soldiers make good politicians” myth again.
Um, no. Being a war hero makes it easier to get elected, but has little or no bearing on potential capability as a civilian executive. I can provide examples if pressed, but these should be self-evident to the assiduous student of history.
As for a “legitimate, representative government” in Afghanistan period, good luck on that. The best we can hope for is stable & anti-terrorist.
There is no strategic reason for the US to continue to invest in Afghanistan in a military capacity. We are only there to avoid dealing directly with the real regional issues: Pakistan and Iran.
Let’s set a timetable, and send our military out of Afghanistan. They can just go straight to Iran and get it over with.
I agree that we’re going to have to deal with Iran in the not-too-distant future, indeed I think that the surge would have been unnecessary if we had turned right at Baghdad and kept going to Tehran.
But it was a mistake to abandon Afghanistan in the ’80′s and it’s a mistake to abandon it today for the same reasons. A fractured society like that is ripe for being bought by the highest bidder and in today’s global economic climate the only organizations that have the resources and desire to buy a country are radical muslim groups.
It’s the same reason we’re maintaining CJTF HOA, to keep Somalia from turning into the terrorist training facility Afghanistan was 10 years ago.
Casey, your bs detector may light up, but I believe this. My son is retiring in a few months. A few years ago, previous to 2 tours of Iraq, his plans were to go the full 30 and hopefully make E9. He’s bailing as an E8 after 22. When I asked why he changed his mind, he said he had to before he did something stupid, like punching out an officer giving this kind of bullshit PC order. He described multiple incidences of the same kind of ROE, and said that he couldn’t live with himself if he passed on orders that would get his men killed for no effect. The bad guys know the ROE, and plan their attacks around it.
One of the problems created by our top-heavy military is that there will always be a “ticket-puncher” in the command structure who will pass on stupid orders from the CIC, regardless of how many honorable officers refuse and resign. That ROE is a direct result of policy from the White House.
Bud, I’m not saying the report is wrong, or inaccurate. That’s just my own internal flag for adding reservations.
Your son isn’t the only one I’ve heard about who has expressed frustration with the ROE.
And -while I’m thinking about it- tell him I said “thank you!” for the 22 years he did invest. God bless him.
You are correct, Sir. I am going back for my 3rd tour in the sandbox, and since the Obamunist took over the absurd, leftard PC insanity of how we are “allowed” to fight this war has followed the same dumbass, pointy-headed, “let’s all hold hands and sing ‘kumbayah’ to the unicorns riding on the rainbow of peace” insanity that led to our humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam. We have a rise in suicides in soldiers – including high ranking NCOs and officers – which I believe is due to overwhelming depression from watching comrades die because of these dumbass, anti-American ROE imposed upon us by our so-called political masters. I’m lucky. As a physician going over there I don’t have to go outside the wire. I sit like a good little fobbit and do my best to patch up our soldiers when they are injured because of these bullshit ROE. I only hope and pray that enough Americans will wake up from their dangerous dream that made them think we could talk the jihadists into becoming peaceful citizens of the world – so we can vote this worthless traitor and all his syncophants out of power friggin’ ASAP so someone who channels Patton, Reagan, Washington and King Leonidas can rally the troops to kick some misogynist/jihadist/goat-humping/pedophile worshipping ass back to the stone age where they belong! They wanna meet allah? Then let’s freakin’ HELP THEM ON THEIR DAMN WAY!
Stephen, I believe it was you who changed my mind in Afghanistan some months back. We achieved our goals when we drove out the Taliban. Certainly it would be easier to drive them out again if they return and make Afghanistan a terrorist haven again than to rebuild the country. The rebuilding is strictly humanitarian.
I support the democratization project in Iraq both because we destroyed their country and because I believe in the project to plant a democracy in the middle of the Middle East. Afghanistan was a wreck already and we owe them nothing. As a humanitarian, I am willing to support a project to help the Afghans help themselves, but so far they have shown little interest in helping themselves (except helping themselves to graft). It’s getting to be time we declare victory and go home. They simply are not worth it.
Tim, I’ve always said that the true overall strategic objective for Afghanistan is a government which will not act as a haven for terrorists.
Note there’s no mention there of democracy, etc, etc.
Jerry Pournelle said not too long after the invasion that our strategy should have been stomping on or killing those in charge, handing both Iraq & Afghanistan to the next in line, saying “DON’T make us come back,” then spending the hundreds of billions not spent on Southwest Asia on a couple hundred nuke power plants here in the US.
Not as emotionally appealing as “Dead or Alive, you’re coming with me (bin Laden/Hussein),” but possibly a wiser strategy.
We didn’t wreck Iraq; the Iraqis and their gangster ruler did that. As for Afghanistan, what else do you expect from a primitive tribal culture with a life expectancy of maybe 42?
Afghanistan is normal compared to 99% of human history. It’s the freaks, weirdos, radicals, and malcontents in the Anglosphere who are the anomaly. Alas, President Barry is a member of the “civilized is the norm” crowd, just like Woody Wilson and Neville Chamberlain.