Win the Afghan War with Safer Driving

(Washington) General Stanley McChrystal appeared on CBS 60 Minutes last night and said that the Afghan War can be won if bombing of the enemy is halted to protect civilians and U.S. forces support the local people by driving safer.

Pursuing civilian support is now the objective and I contend that it's absolutely nuts from a military standpoint. The social workers should mobilize after the war is won.

As I recall, the U.S. went into Afghanistan to kill terrorists and devastate their training grounds. It wasn't to become constables who drive safely which, by the way, is erroneously believed to engender support from civilians.

I contend that "civilian support" is an unreliable entity in Afghanistan or any country under invasion. When U.S. forces are handing out goodies, the "supportive civilians" gather around. Later, under the dark of night, many of the same "supportive civilians" are donning bandoliers, shouldering AK-47s and RPGs, detonating bombs at girls schools and burying IEDs.

Any fixation on getting the Afghan people to support having foreign armies in their midst is a pipe dream. Foreign forces in-country, I contend, besmirch every Afghan's pride.

Before U.S. forces arrived, the Afghans were leading lives of desperation under Sharia laws imposed by the brutal, authoritarian Taliban. Society was feudal and tribal and bitterly harsh. With U.S. forces in the country, the Afghans continue to lead lives of desperation except now there is a shooting war. From the standpoint of the average Afghan, things got worse when the foreigners arrived. The foreigners who, the Afghans know, will ultimately leave.

Therefore, despite how nice the U.S. forces are, how safely they drive and how many goodies they give out, things got worse after they arrived and they are going to depart, leaving Afghans still desperate and brutalized in a feudal and tribal society. [The alternative, total occupation of a mountainous, land-locked country for several generations, is unthinkable.]

In summary, U.S. forces initially entered Afghanistan to kill terrorists and devastate their training grounds. That objective has not been achieved. Years hence, we have the commanding officer saying the military objective has changed and now U.S. forces will protect the civilian population and drive safely in lieu of pursuing and killing the enemy. It's a losing strategy.