Afghanistan Doesn't Need More Troops

[kylebisme]

We need to GTFO, as explained here.

 

[PJABBER]

We need to GTFO, as explained here.

Thanks for that link. I thought Hoh's observations and descriptions were spot on. Personally, I don't think we can disengage completely. Leaving a vacuum just means that the Taliban will re-assert themselves without an effective counter and the international bad guys get their safe haven.

Staying means some combination of U.S. military security forces for the cities, special ops/ca for the country outside the cities and to build out the Afghan military and security forces, an economic development program where that is called for, reduction or eradication of poppy growing with a viable and permanent replacement in the way of cash crops, democratization and anti-corruption campaign on the political side and some infrastructure build out that make sense for that region and finally some co-option or integration of the disparate interests in the area, including the Taliban.

Does the US have means to do so? Sure.

Worth doing? Well, we got involved and it would be nice to leave the place better off. Even if we don't do a great job in Afghanistan, it still stages a capability to act in Pakistan, where the bad guys have been pushed and where we might have to get more and more involved. Which opens another can of worms.

Is the political will there to make the required effort for the next decade or so?

 

[kylebisme]

Leaving a vacuum just means that the Taliban will re-assert themselves without an effective counter and the international bad guys get their safe haven.

As Hoh noted, international bad guys don't need Afghanistan to find safe haven. Beyond that, if the Taliban does let al-Qaeda go back to setting up training camps in Afghanistan, we can always drop in to bomb them.

Staying means some combination of U.S. military security forces for the cities, special ops/ca for the country outside the cities and to build out the Afghan military and security forces, an economic development program where that is called for, reduction or eradication of poppy growing with a viable and permanent replacement in the way of cash crops, democratization and anti-corruption campaign on the political side and some infrastructure build out that make sense for that region and finally some co-option or integration of the disparate interests in the area, including the Taliban.

As Hoh noted, doing what you suggest would require dedicating far more lives and resorces than we currently are.

Is the political will there to make the required effort for the next decade or so?

Not in the US population at large there isn't, because there is not even a perspective payoff for us worth what it would take. Unfortunately, the will of the people is of little interest to those running the show, as it is a massive gravy train for them.