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www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009103002862.html - Cached - Annotated View

Robert Maguire's personal annotations on this page

rmaguir
Rmaguir bookmarked on 2009-11-02 US politics afghanistan war military waronterror culture strategy
  • Hikmatullah, a tall Pashtun farmer dressed in turban and white cloak, looks slightly bewildered as a U.S. Army officer offers him tea and bread and questions him about what he wants from life.
  • Can these pleasant, tea-drinking American soldiers really be the same people who are assaulting Taliban fighters in this region of eastern Afghanistan?
  • Even as U.S. forces show a gentler side with their new stress on people-friendly counterinsurgency, they continue to conduct devastating attacks on the enemy.
  • this reality is not well understood back in America.
  • counterinsurgency strategy
  • counterterrorism approach
  • The fact is that U.S. forces are doing both missions every day and night -- and indeed are becoming increasingly effective at each one.
  • But there's a danger: A strategy that combines stroking your friends and pounding your enemies runs the risk of sending mixed messages.
  • the soft approach -- a "population-centric" strategy
  • (The problem, alas, is that the Kabul government is distant and corrupt.)
  • Assisting him will be the first wave of the "civilian surge" promised by President Obama -- representatives of the State and Agriculture departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development, reporting to a regional coordinator for "stabilization operations." The plan is for nearly 400 U.S. civilians to be working on aid projects across Afghanistan by year-end -- all, no doubt, drinking the requisite three cups of tea.
  • The mission, basically, is to make it very dangerous to be a Taliban operative -- and thereby shift the balance of intimidation in this war. The SOF warriors are also targeting the networks that produce the roadside bombs killing coalition troops.
  • "It's like all the instruments in an orchestra," says a U.S. military commander of the different parts of the battle plan. "You have to know how to play them together."

This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 02 Nov 2009, by Robert Maguire.

  • 02 Nov 09
    rmaguir
    Robert Maguire

    US politics afghanistan war military waronterror culture strategy

    • Hikmatullah, a tall Pashtun farmer dressed in turban and white cloak, looks slightly bewildered as a U.S. Army officer offers him tea and bread and questions him about what he wants from life.
    • Can these pleasant, tea-drinking American soldiers really be the same people who are assaulting Taliban fighters in this region of eastern Afghanistan?
    • 11 more annotations...