Printable View
The attached lengthy 'virtual interview' by a Captain Carl Thompson, US Army appeared on Cryptome today and is a very interesting read: http://cryptome.net/0001/afghan-win.htm
Some reservations as I am unable to identify the original source or the author.
davidbfpo
The young CPT began posting his brief two-page Winning in Afghanistan articles sharing his experience in Afghanistan on the BCKS COIN forum back on 3 Mar. It appears that someone copied and pasted all 11 of'em onto Cryptome......
More importantly, for those with Afghan experience here on the board, is this stuff pointed in the right direction?
sounds right on the mark and as though there have been few changes in the last 40 years. The Army stuff also sounds as if there have been few changes in the last 60 years. Particularly the bit about his having to qualify prior to departure and the brouhaha surrounding that...
Sad.
The fact that local culture has not changed in 40 -- or several thousand -- years is no surprise. Anyone who expects that it will in the next generation or two is going to be severely disappointed, I expect. The, BTW, would be US, not Afghan, generations. :wry:
The fact that the Army has not changed is just very disappointing not to mention dangerous. He said the Army is committed to processes, not outcomes. Regrettably, terribly, he's right.
He may be a young Captain but he's got a lot of stuff figured out that some older folks ought to investigate -- and try to fix.
Dave:Quote:
Originally Posted by davidbfpo
What we refer to as corruption is the daily life of Afghanistan, Pakistan, much of SW Asia, always has been and likely for generations to come will remain that way.
Whoever is on top, even the Taliban, they all are by our standards corrupt.
I had to learn to live with this sort of "stuff" back in the 1960s when posted to Karachi and Peshawar, with side trips to Kabul. It has not changed nor will it likely ever really change.
That is why I predict at best Afghanitan will finally end up as a monarchy, which is better than the Taliban alternative.
I wholeheartedly agree with this CPT's assessment of our efforts in Afghanistan. I don't, however, think that there is any hope of changing. I am about halfway through a 12 month tour in southern Afghanistan as an embedded adviser. This is my second tour (the first was in W Baghdad, 2006-2008). The path to success is remarkably clear, yet our hands are tied. Until we change our methods, become adaptive and put a serious effort towards trying to build up the IRoA and defeat the Taliban, we will make no progress. In my AO, the Taliban hold every advantage, and are gaining ground every year.