Blog-o-signment: Afghanistan Strategy Positions

Position 1:

Trudy Rubin and David Kilcullen

The U.S. military must help the people of Afghanistan and must address the tribal areas, in order to defeat the Taliban, as sheer military force will not defeat them.

• After the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the lack of troops caused by the war in Iraq allowed the Taliban to make a comeback, gaining control over much of Afghanistan.
• The Americans have to reconstruct Afghanistan to get the people on their side. A troop increase would help, but alone, it will not solve everything.
• Afghans need a better standard of living, so that they won’t turn to the Taliban. Protect, Prevent a Taliban takeover, Build, and Hand Off to the Afghans.

Position 2:

Michael A. Cohen and Parag Khanna

The real issue is Pakistan, not Afghanistan, and the U.S. needs to focus their military attention on Pakistan.

• The people in Afghanistan do not support the Taliban, and Al Qaeda can’t ever make a support base there; they have all crossed over into Pakistan.
• Drone strikes, when collaboration with the Pakistanis is achieved, can be very effective in taking out Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership.
• The strategy in Afghanistan should be merely rooting out the leaders of the Taliban that still remain in Afghanistan, through persuading them to join the legitimate government, and to try to get leaders to come over from Pakistan.

Position 3:

Tariq Ali

The military campaigns must end, and a peaceful, political campaign to repair Afghanistan must begin.

• “Afghans do not like being occupied.” The Taliban is fueled by people who want to retain independence, and will turn to anyone who is willing to fight the invading U.S. military.
• Most Taliban recruits are from people who are victims of the fighting by the American military, which cannot help the underlying problem: extreme poverty.
• A social and economic plan can help the Afghans and eliminate the need to turn to a terrorist power for help, and if neighboring nations like China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and Russia could help, the plan would work.

Position 4:

George Will

The American troops simply cannot do what they came to Afghanistan to do, and future operations should be focused around offshore missiles and air strikes.

• The military is far too few to ever hope to eradicate the Taliban from the country, as they control more than two thirds of the country and can dissolve and come back when under pressure.
• The idea of rebuilding Afghanistan is ridiculous, as the entire country is essentially an infrastructure vacuum. Solving poverty in the Bronx, a tiny area compared to Afghanistan, took years, and the United States cannot hope to simply rebuild this area of extreme poverty.
• Air strikes to eliminate major problem areas and attacking the Tribal Areas, where the Taliban of Pakistan are located, are the only problem. More investment in the country is simply a waste of money, when the real problems are the Taliban of Pakistan, which has a chance of taking over the country and gaining access to nuclear weapons.

Blog-o-signment: Afghanistan Stuff Part 2

II.

1) Why do children join the Taliban? Give specific examples.

2) How has the war in Pakistan impacted children?

3) Had the military offensive by Pakistani army / US military drones been effective? Cite specific examples.

4) How and why does the Taliban continue to grow?

1.

In Pakistan, children join the Taliban largely because they are the only option. The Taliban’s aggressive campaign to indoctrinate the young children of the countryside and the areas that are under their control prevents them from having any other option. Most non-Taliban schools are bombed, and no girls’ school is allowed to remain standing.

The indoctrination from a very young age in madrassas gives the children the beliefs of the Taliban. For example, the 14-year old boy who wanted to become a suicide bomber, if his father consented, had been in the extremist madrassa since he was a young child. The director of recruiting children stated that he “had” children from the ages of five to seven. These young children are easy to indoctrinate, and will become loyal Taliban soldiers.

In addition, children may join the Taliban because they dislike the Americans or the Pakistani army. Constant bombings and attacks like the one that destroyed an entire village turn the people’s opinion against the attackers. Children resentful of the killings of their family may turn to the Taliban for revenge.

2.

The war in Pakistan has impacted children possibly more than any other group. The children are the ideal soldiers for the Taliban, as they are easily indoctrinated, and can carry out attacks just as effectively as an adult. In addition, the indiscriminate killings of civilians by the Pakistani army greatly impacts children, who may be killed, orphaned, or separated from their family.

On top of this, the removal of a public education system by the Taliban prevents children from getting education to become members of a modern society, forcing them to join the Taliban, who provide a social structure in place of the one they have taken away.

3.

The American/NATO offensive by predator drones in Pakistan has not helped them. While they may succeed in attacking and killing some Taliban leaders, these leaders will be replaced, like Baitullah Mehsud replacing Nek Mohammad. In addition, the indiscriminate bombings make the local population resentful towards the faceless drones, which represent American aggression.

When families are killed, the children or neighbors can begin to dislike the United States, because of the bombings. The children of a bombed village are far more likely to join the Taliban, because they have reason to hate America, and because they are now homeless and friendless. The Taliban can take them in easily, provide education in a madrassa, and have a new suicide bomber, like Wasifullah, a victim of an air strike who is eager to join the Taliban.

4.

The Taliban continues to grow for a few reasons. The first, most obvious reason, is their aggressive campaign to conquer areas and begin indoctrinating the local youth. This creates a new generation of Taliban, who can continue the process. The madrassas are extremely effective, and are generally free or even pay the families of students. Even the poorest of children can attend one.

There is also the dislike of the people of this region of the invading Americans. There is a strong sense that the American troops are occupiers, and that the local people, to maintain freedom, must fight against them. The Taliban is currently the largest organization that does this, and so people join them.

The American strategy of somewhat indiscriminate bombing, on top of the Pakistani army’s lack of efficiency (Wiping out a village, for example, is not effective), make the local people dislike the United States forces. These attacks are not sufficient to protect the local people from the Taliban, and the number of forces is not sufficient, so locals will join the Taliban, even if they may not want to do so.

Blog-o-signment: Afghanistan Stuff Part 1

After watching the film: The War Briefing describe four major problems faced by the US/NATO forces in Afghanistan. Post your responses on the blog.

There are four major issues that the United States faces when attempting to fight the Taliban:

1.

The Taliban hold sway over too much of the population. Simply put, the Taliban can use fear far more effectively than the United States can use diplomacy. If the choice is to not help the American troops build a new road to your village or be beheaded and your body displayed in public, most people will choose the latter. The Taliban’s ruthlessness helps them prevent villages and the people from assisting the United States.

In addition, the local villagers oftentimes do not feel particularly amiable towards the United States, because their villages have been bombed, or because of a strong tribal identity. The American bombings do not help public sentiment, and persuade many youths to voluntarily join the Taliban to fight the United States. In addition, the sense that the United States are invaders is extremely hard to dispel among the population. The identities with tribes and the village are simply too strong to overcome easily.

2.

The Taliban have an easy safe haven. The tribal areas across the border in Pakistan are not only lawless, but the Pakistani government forbids American troops from crossing the border. So, when the Taliban are pressured, they can escape into Pakistan, and the Pakistanis and Americans are helpless to follow them. This forces the United States to use predator drone aircraft for air strikes, which feeds into the first problem: these bombings result in martyrs when they succeed. The sense of resentment towards the United States caused by faceless drones bombing civilians by accident only helps the Taliban’s case.

3.

The Taliban has a huge supply of funds in the form of opium farms. Local farmers produce the opium, sell it to the Taliban, and the Taliban refines it and sells it for far more than they received it for. This benefits the local farmers, who get more money than they would if they farmed, say, wheat, and the Taliban has an endless source of money to buy supplies. This means that to end the Taliban’s funding, America must turn the Afghanis against us by reducing their income. Thus, to solve one problem is to ignore or exacerbate another.

4.

The number of troops is insufficient to truly help the people and fight the Taliban. Counterinsurgency requires a large amount of resources, which can be used to help the local people and to fight the insurgency. In addition, it also requires that a large number of troops be inserted into the region to maintain a constant presence in the area. This constant presence would solidify American control over the region and help with the first problem, and would enable more effective combat.

Part II:

Obama’s new strategy centers around changing the way that the war is fought. He stated multiple times that the problems lie in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the United States will focus on both of these countries, albeit in different ways. In Afghanistan, new troops will be sent into the country, both to train Afghan forces, and to help increase the United States’ presence in Afghanistan. The training of Afghan police and military is vital, as after American forces leave, the remaining troops must be able to maintain a solid country that can stand up to the Taliban.

With regards to Pakistan, Obama stated that the United States knew that Pakistan was as much a problem area as Afghanistan as far as the Taliban was concerned, and pledged that the United States would help the Pakistanis in any way that we could.

Obama’s plan is reasonable. More troops will solve the above fourth problem, and will assist in the first problem, if his plans to help the local population succeed. Perhaps more emphasis on the military aspect would be necessary, as the Taliban is a significant military threat, and at least some parts of it would need to be dealt with militarily. Overall, though, his view seems to be similar to one that has seen the above four problems and has thought about how, specifically, to deal with them.