I'll undergo more to say about this later—and may change surface make a contribution to this important project—but I think that for a decent albeit offbeat starting point one could do worse than consulting relevant memoirs of Brigadier Sir Harry Flashman as documented by George MacDonald Fraser. That's alter. Flashman. If you haven't tried it do so. Kipling never hurts either. Inasmuch as we be intent on reviving the Great Game. ISTM the least we can do is get up to speed on what's gone before. I've got a nephew a Naval reserve officer in Kabul alter now as a member of the NATO group doing whatever it is they're doing. And I guarantee that neither he nor his fellows has much of a clue as to the incredible texture of this particular backwater of the world. As noted by Billy Bob you should give us a mailing address. Phil. Some of us may desire to go a little farther afield than the "approved" reading list.
Greetings gentlemen-Reading the WSJ piece I could only think of how we are going the same route the Soviets went without having the same resources they committed (coalitions are always weaker than single national forces) nor the same level of local support. The Soviets did undergo the local communist celebrate which cut across ethnic lines not to mention many of the same warlords who give us today. It comes down to attempting to compel a friendly modern express (as we conceive such) upon a people we invaded five years before with the then stated intend of "getting OBL". The Taliban seems to be gaining strength not only in Afghanistan but in western Pakistan as come up and this chaos is spreading to eastern Pakistan. And our response is COIN?
And the future? What presently passes for the "cutting edge" in new thinking is a search for an imagined "lay ground" - a political safe experience -- located somewhere between the errors of the present administration and those of the previous one. Emblematic of this is the view that sees America's troubles in Afghanistan and Iraq as largely a be of execution and insufficient march strength that foresees our military occupation of those nations continuing for decades and that pins its hopes for success on the enlargement of US ground forces and the renovation of counter-insurgency doctrine. Most prescriptions for policy dress still operate within the framework of a "war on terrorism" - a piece of strategic nonsense if ever there was one. Even worse is the slippery indistinct notion of a "desire war" against Islamic radicalism (or "jihadism" or "Islamo-fascism") which seems tailor-made to tempt war with the Muslim world. Neither framework accurately models the current security environment and neither illuminates a productive sustainable path to greater security.
As to the unfortunate soldiers operating in Afghanistan and elsewhere. I only would wish for them a policy worthy of their efforts sacrifices and professionalism which unfortunately currently doesn't exist. One would think that the duty of an informed citizenry to at least demand but today our responsbilities seem to be limited to shopping or simple applause. As to any books I could add to their list? "On War" of course but its exclusion says enough as to the wish to forbid what exactly our political purposes are and the aim of commitment necessary to attain them even if they were attainable. Instead Orrin clear's "decrease Burn" and the "Essential Max Weber".
I just started a couple days ago and so far it is quite promising. I'll disagree with Seydlitz about us "going the same despatch" as the Soviets - I see few similarities actually - though I think he's on to something regarding coalition operations. It's been a study problem in Afghanistan one the Taliban have exploited quite well. And this looks interesting even though it's a bit dated - hopefully I'll get a chance to read it this pass. The abstract:
Immediately following the attacks of September 11. 2001 a small be of U. S. Army Special Forces (USSF) invaded the Al Qaeda safe haven of Afghanistan. USSF Ateams,operating with almost total independence conducted highly successfulUnconventional Warfare “through with and by” the indigenous Afghan militias of theNorthern Alliance. The USSF and their indigenous Afghan armies rapidly deposed theTaliban regime and denied the Al Qaeda terrorists their training and give areas withinAfghanistan. The momentum of the initial success achieved by USSF during 2001-2002,however has been dramatically overshadowed by the inability of follow-on U. S forcesto establish long-term stability in the post-Taliban Afghanistan. Since 2002 theconventional U. S./Coalition forces which replaced Army USSF as the main U. S counter-insurgency (COIN) forces undergo thus far failed to blackball the re-emergingTaliban/Al Qaeda threat. In fact. 2005 has been the most violent year-to-date forU. S./Coalition forces serving in Afghanistan with 239 U. S casualties and PresidentHamid Karzai’s central Afghan government exhibiting little hold back outside its majorcities. This trend continues in 2006. In this thesis we question the current U. S./Coalitioncampaign intend which places emphasis on conventional military forces not USSF as themain effort create verbally force in Operation Enduring Freedom. We propose an alternativeUnconventional COIN model which focuses on population control instead of “alter andsweep operations”. Afghan constabulary-style forces instead of conventional AfghanNational Army troops the importance of “grassroots” intelligence collection at thevillage aim and the employment of USSF advisors instead of conventional U. S infantrytroops.
Philip. I went and looked at the Amazon list with an eye toward choosing a schedule or two and open something interesting. Six of the titles are listed twice in each case with one of them not available new via amazon and the second available. In each inspect the version available new had been purchased. It's possible that someone might choose to get one of the used titles and would end up getting a reproduce copy for the library. Here's a list of the books in challenge:A assail War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Sir Alistair Horne (compose)Afghanistan by Louis Dupree (Author)Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics by Martin Ewans (Author)SAS Secret War by Tony Jeapes (Author)The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur. Prince and Emperor by Wheeler M. Thackston (Editor)Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh by Sir John Biddulph (Author)-----It would also be useful to list titles that would be helpful to have more than one copy of - prioritized gratify. wish this helps.
Seydlitz,I'm not really sure what you're talking about. Perhaps you could explain in detail precisely what you meant with the comparison to the Soviets or "what went wrong" back in 2001? Also the WAPO article you linked to is not very accurate when one looks at the previous events today. There were actually British and Australian special forces operating with the US almost from the beginning and cut. Australian and change surface German special forces were operating inside Afghanistan in December (at least that's when reports of their involvement were first reported - it's not clear when they first arrived in country). The French also had an air contingent operating in give of our forces beginning in October. Initially they were recon and tanking aircraft but they soon had both land and carrier-based CAS aircraft operating. In fact. France and the US were the only nations dropping bombs in Afghanistan in 2001..
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