The former UK top soldier adds
Ex-CGS General Dannatt weighs in with his viewpoint:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...mys-hands.html
I do wonder how the CGS (2006-2009) can say this (below) when our strategy in Helmand Province since 2006 is labelled "mowing the lawn" as soldiers fought over the same patch of ground again and again.
Quote:
There is an increasing awareness that this is a conflict truly conducted among the people – the people are the environment, the background to everything that the military is doing. We also know that it is a conflict that is about the people – about the people's hearts and minds, as we seek to persuade them that there is a better way of life than falling, once again, under the repressive extremism of the Taliban.
More puzzling is where this fact comes from:
Quote:
The Helmand poppy crop, for example, was down by about a quarter last season.
I suppose the General was saying this to the government whilst serving and I've seen this said IIRC by others (probably critics of the government):
Quote:
So of course we need to win the hearts and minds of the people in Helmand. But perhaps more critically, we also need to win the hearts and minds of the people of this country, too. The biggest threat to our success in Afghanistan is not the Taliban, but a loss of will by the people at home to see this vital task through.
From my comfortable "armchair" faraway I shall now be reckless. I am not convinced 'hearts and minds' really applies in Afghanistan. The time to win that if it ever did apply has gone or is about to.
It is an Interesting Book
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Uboat509
I was just watching an author interview on CSPAN-2 with Sarah Chayes. She is a former foreign correspondent for NPR who reported from afghanistan during and after the fight for Kandehar and then stayed in Afghanistan to run an NGO. She seems to really have a finger on pulse of Afghan society. She has a book out called "The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban." During the interview she had some fairly sharp criticism for Karzai for his failure to remove the various warlords from power. She does not seem to be some shrinking violet bleeding heart. When I get some time I will have to check out her book.
SFC W
The book covers both before she left reporting for NPR, as well as after when she starts up a woman's NGO in Kandahar, , which speaks to her having a large set of ovaries, to say the least. Her financial support is from the Karzai family. It does not offer anything new in a macro sense to people who are already familiar with AFG; her run-ins with the US forces and others, such as trying to get on KAF, and the bureaucracy she deals with, are at least entertaining. I think it is useful both to help disillusion anyone about hope for the future here, and to overcome prejudices about NPR reporters (mine have greatly diminished :)).
Maj Gen Mackay's paper on UK military in Afghanistan - full text
Moderator's note: see Post No.2
Ladies and gents
I wonder if it might be of use if I provide a link to the full text of this paper. None of the media reports I've seen have given a link to it, or provided a title which one can Google. I've managed to dig it out, however. Timely stuff, given the recent release of Maj Gen Flynn's work. Though I've not had the opportunity to read it thoroughly yet, I would guesstimate that Maj Gen Mackay's paper is the closest publicly available UK equivalent, though it isn't J2 centric.
http://www.da.mod.uk/publications/sf-publications and select the second link down.
For those unfamiliar, find some background here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8439945.stm
Scathing review by former advocate of being there
An article by Christina Lamb in 'The Spectator', which is a scathing IMHO review of the UK presence in Afghanistan.
Link: http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/al...-targets.thtml
(One particular part is on the ANP thread).
Helmand Province Sept '09 review
An open source review of the situation, dated September 2009, which I'd missed of Helmand Province, where the UK (with allies like the Danes) has concentrated its attention and now the junior partner to the USA: http://www.understandingwar.org/repo...sponding-enemy
Helmand Operation Announced in Advance
The following is from The Times of London, February 4, 2010. One wonders why this operation is being announced in advance--perhaps it's being done in deference to the advocates of information operations, or some such rationale. Unconventional thinking has its place, and in the aftermath of 9/11 much was said about the need to think "outside of the box"--in hindsight what we got was a series of decisions made with little thought about the probable consequences.
Quote:
In an unusual departure from conventional military policy, the coming operation has been briefed to reporters in advance.
Speaking at the Ministry of Defence, the director of communications for operations in Afghanistan, General Gordon Messenger, said that the coming offensive would feature British forces in "a central role".
"Helmand is at the heart of General McChrystal's plan to demonstrate decisive success against the Taleban insurgency," said General Nick Parker, speaking from Kabul.
However, it is understood that US Marines will form the majority of the forces in the push.
The unusual openness from the military reflects a shift in strategic thinking driven by the US commander, General Stanley McChrystal, from a strategy focused on targeting and killing the Taleban to one rooted in the protection of the population.
"The plan is to do it in the least aggressive way possible," General Messenger said. But he added: "Clearance operations by their very nature are high risk. We can't discount a fight and we can't discount casualties."
The entire article can be viewed using the link below:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7015193.ece
I think the principal reason for announcing the operation
is, as was done in Fallujah, to allow the civilians in the town to leave. I imagine that several other towns will follow at about quarterly interval ending with Kandahar at the end of next year...
Some of the lesser committed bad guys will also leave and as Wilf says, will then return -- but those will not be the hard over zealots so that's no big thing. He's also correct in that it is not an ideal strategy but lacking troop numbers (which the west doesn't and won't have) it's a reasonable alternative.
That Western troop strength problem is not going away and thus, hopefully, future politicians will make more informed decisions and avoid such operations which are a residual not of Cold War thinking as many pundits (and a few Posters on this board. Yes, Bob... ;) ) like to say but really of WWI / WW II thinking -- the western military personnel systems are not the only thing stuck in a time warp. So too is training -- and, obviously, 'strategic' (read mass armies and balance of power politics) and even so-called 'operational' thought (a flawed concept unnecessarily adopted from two Armies which are no more...). :rolleyes:
Sort of correct -- it was hashed out here, pro and con,
to an extent back in October. Almost 30 posts worth:LINK. That thread is one I recall, it's been discussed off and on.
My point on it was and is that the US army had not used that 'level,' that it was adopted during the heyday of 'The USSR will clean our clock unless...' (a line I never believed. FWIW, neither did Barry McCaffery among others). We were in love with all things German and the USSR was allegedly ahead of us in many ways. We see how that ended...
As Tom Odom said on that thread, it was created to give the Corps some tasks -- and as I said, it was an early 80s justification to retain the Corps which some senior folks had wanted to disappear in the mid 70s...
All I can see that it has accomplished is giving us LOO (for whatever benefit one sees in them) and further complicating the MDMP... :rolleyes:
That and we still have the Corps. Keep it, I guess -- but either it or the Division should go -- unless, of course, one needs those flags to justify spaces...
Kings of War teaching aide
A short PPT on the UK campaign, nothing startling, but "all in one place" and critical: http://kingsofwar.org.uk/2010/02/3424/
British Army Chief of Staff plus
Two rather laudatory articles as General Sir David Richards tours Afghanistan: a general report:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ve-turned.html and an article around an interview:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ghanistan.html
On the strategic front very different opinions see the "round up" thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=9718
I note the speculation on how many Taliban commanders were thinking of reconciliation.
Also on the battle for Marjah thread.
UK troops to remain in Afghanistan 'for five years'
General Sir David Richards adds to the BBC:
Quote:
Britain will be "militarily engaged" in Afghanistan for a further five years, the head of the Army has said.
General Sir David Richards told the Daily Telegraph, while on a visit to Helmand, that he expected the military conflict to "trail off in 2011". But British troops will continue in training and support roles, he said.
From:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8540402.stm
Morale at home affects the front
A leaked document written by General Sir David Richards and his response when in Afghanistan:
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In a confidential draft memo prepared for ministers he wrote that soldiers and their families felt “undervalued” (and now comments)....'We need our soldiers to be ready, mentally and physically, to endure repeated tours in Afghanistan, in a harsh environment, with the real prospect of significant casualties each time. To maintain the necessary morale and cohesion, they must see tangible signs between tours that they and their families are valued'.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...army-head.html
Sangin: a report on why more Brits die there
The BBC Newsnight Defence Correspondent, Mark Urban, reports from Sangin:
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Sangin in Afghanistan is the most dangerous place in the world for UK troops, with six UK servicemen being killed there since the beginning of this month.
Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ht/8555922.stm
Black Watch Military Crosses, Mention in Dispatches
From the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, March 20, 2010:
Quote:
Black Watch heroes honoured for brave deeds in Afghanistan against Taliban
By Jane Candlish
Published: 20/03/2010
Four Black Watch heroes have won the Military Cross for their bravery in battles against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
A comrade of the Inverness-based soldiers was also given the armed forces’ oldest accolade for gallantry – a Mention in Dispatches – posthumously.
Acting Sergeant Sean Binnie threw a grenade that killed insurgents a split second before he was fatally wounded by a round fired from one of their guns.
The Military Cross is the third-highest decoration given to the British Army and is awarded in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations.
To read the entire article click here. The Black Watch is continuing a long and honorable tradition.
Critic catches up with General
I'm sure I posted this article before (Post 85), based around General Sir David Richards, the UK's top soldier, on a visit to Afghanistan, on 26/2/10: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ve-turned.html
Quote:
I do not think we can afford to fail in Afghanistan because of the intoxicating effect failure will have on those militants who oppose democracy and our freedoms,” he explained. “It would create the view that we are not prepared to fight for that which we hold precious.
A critic Patrick Porter on his blogsite:http://offshorebalancer.wordpress.co...set-about-you/ has commented:
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Of all the defences for fighting in Afghanistan, this is the weakest. We must stay and win just in case we excite a group of beleaguered, largely ineffectual and marginal militants?
Read on for more.
I like this comment:
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Here's what a CIA veteran who was deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats, has to say about AQ:
'We must see jihadists for the small, lethal, disjointed and miserable opponents that they are." Al Qaeda "has only a handful of individuals capable of planning, organizing and leading a terrorist operation," Carle notes, and "its capabilities are far inferior to its desires.
McChrystal pays tribute to courage of British special forces
Quote:
General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, has paid tribute to the extraordinary courage of British special forces.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...al-forces.html
Prince Charles in Afghanistan
Quote:
A frank, high-level memo which lays bare the "frustration" felt over the Prince of Wales's trip to Afghanistan has been leaked in Whitehall, causing embarrassment to senior figures in the Foreign Office.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...hall-memo.html
An earlier report:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ghanistan.html
davidbfpo & baboon6 Reply
Thanks, gents, for keeping us in touch with views of this fight from your side of the fence. I'm appreciative.
British forces to withdraw from Helmand......
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British forces are to be withdrawn from Helmand and replaced by United States Marines under controversial new plans being drawn up by American commanders.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ghanistan.html
Not exactly a surprise to me, if only for the expected gaps created when the Canadians and Dutch leave the combat role. How this will play out in the UK is unclear, with all the commitment made and deaths since 2006.
General Dannatt, the UK's previous senior general, has weighed in:
Quote:
If British forces are indeed asked to re-deploy from Helmand to Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul, it would pose a major dilemma for policymakers, writes former Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ghanistan.html
The Brits know how to screw things up...
You have to read this...
http://tinyurl.com/ybd449d
Do you laugh or do you cry?
How to End the War in Afghanistan: the official UK view
David Miliband, the UK Foreign Minister, has written a long article in the NY Review of Books 'How to End the War in Afghanistan'; yes, it is carefully crafted, official and optimistic. Have a read: http://ow.ly/1xcBO
IMHO I simply couldn't follow the arguments having read many posts on SWC, notably the Karzai thread. Just noted the article appeared on April Fool's Day, surely a mistake!