tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post4034262009381531207..comments2024-02-03T10:37:28.343-05:00Comments on Madman of Chu: The Face of the TalibanMadman of Chuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12867538212499011319noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post-36568034072119611052012-10-13T19:29:47.286-04:002012-10-13T19:29:47.286-04:00Harry,
More than 400,000 U.S. military personn...Harry,<br /><br /> More than 400,000 U.S. military personnel died to counter the threat posed by Pearl Harbor. The fact that none of those casualties happened after 1945 is immaterial to the comparison between Germany, Japan, and Afghanistan. In WWII our military fought until the threat was nullified. The threat embodied by 9/11 is of a different kind, and unfortunately requires us to ask our military to fight longer. Even as that is so, however, we must keep perspective. To date 2045 U.S. military personnel have died in the Afghan-Pakistani theater. This is a tragic loss, but it is vastly eclipsed by the sacrifice imposed by WWII.<br /><br />This has been a brutal year for our forces in Afghanistan, but the switch to a "Biden strategy" would entail fewer casualties. U.S. forces would withdraw to bases and only engage the Taliban in support of the Afghan military and on the terms most favorable to the US. <br /><br />As to whether the Taliban would burn itself out, that is a function of our resolve. It is not merely a matter of them losing the will to fight, but of Afghan society at large deciding that enough is enough. The Taliban has nothing to offer the Afghan people but what they dished out to Malala Yousafzai. I'm confident that that path has only so far to go.Madman of Chuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12867538212499011319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post-11012509002208352042012-10-12T22:31:39.172-04:002012-10-12T22:31:39.172-04:00Andy, I hope you're right, but I'm not con...Andy, I hope you're right, but I'm not convinced. Will the Taliban burn itself out? Only time will tell, but they've had a pretty good run thus far, and there's no guarantee that they will any time soon. <br /><br />Furthermore, I reject the comparison to Okinawa and Germany. Korea might be somewhat closer, but even so, those comparisons fail to account for the human cost. How many US soldiers were killed in Germany or Japan post August 1945? According to icasualties.org, there have been 271 US deaths in Afghanistan in 2012. Is the hope that someday we'll wear down the Taliban worth it?Harry Hochheiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00975611479091971854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post-19894577648502231262012-10-12T10:47:06.618-04:002012-10-12T10:47:06.618-04:00Harry,
The good such a strategy might do is l...Harry,<br /><br /> The good such a strategy might do is largely (but not entirely) measurable in the harm it would prevent. Keeping soldiers in Afghanistan denies its use to Al Qaeda as a base from which to stage terrorist attacks. Beyond this, it changes the political equation in Afghan society in a way that might, in the long term, create a more positive outcome. We can't rewrite the social contract for the Afghans, but we can (we must) keep our hand in the negotiation over what the future shape of Afghan state and society will look like. If we are resolute, eventually the Taliban insurgency will burn itself out, at which point the Afghans themselves can arrive at a political solution that will put an end to violence. I'm fine with the notion that our troops will be in Afghanistan indefinitely (the way they have been in Okinawa and Germany), and that it is up to the Afghans to work out a solution that makes the presence of our troops non-disruptive (again, like Japan and Germany). We don't have the right to dictate to the Afghans how they should live, but we do have a right to park ourselves there and make sure that we don't get any more little gifts like those of 9/11/01.Madman of Chuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12867538212499011319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post-68918646951346206332012-10-11T22:05:35.606-04:002012-10-11T22:05:35.606-04:00Andy: sounds like permanent stalemate and war of a...Andy: sounds like permanent stalemate and war of attrition. I'm trying, but I still can't see what good that would do....Harry Hochheiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00975611479091971854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post-13563014212505653982012-10-10T22:54:03.910-04:002012-10-10T22:54:03.910-04:00Harry,
After 2012 we are almost certainly goin...Harry,<br /><br /> After 2012 we are almost certainly going to transition over to the "Biden strategy (i.e. the strategy that Joe Biden suggested in lieu of the surge)": draw down to between 20-30,000 troops, pull back to bases, leave the fight against the Taliban largely to the Karzai government's forces, with air and intel support from NATO. This is obviously an imperfect strategy, and envisions a long stalemate, but there is little alternative. Counterinsurgency has not worked, and there is little political will to continue pursuing it even if it could. At the same time, however, simply walking away from Afghanistan and letting the chips fall where they may is not an option. We may not be able to dictate a stable final outcome, but we can hang around with enough firepower to see to it that the Taliban is frustrated in its goals. Madman of Chuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12867538212499011319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493138.post-67755371459589669072012-10-10T21:50:06.624-04:002012-10-10T21:50:06.624-04:00Andy:
It may be a gross derilection of duty to a...Andy: <br /><br />It may be a gross derilection of duty to abdicate the struggle, but you don't really say what we can do that would be effective. There's clearly no stomach for a large-scale military intervention in Afghanistan, and drone strikes might help surgically, but we really have no way of knowing whether or not reactions to those strikes are creating more recruits to the Taliban or Al Qaeda. The status quo seems to me to leave a good chance that the Taliban will gain strength - is there some viable alternative? What would you suggest?Harry Hochheiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00975611479091971854noreply@blogger.com