Ralph Peters
Going to Afghanistan after 9/11 was a necessity; staying there in force was a mistake — and dragging out our failure is a travesty.
We invaded to smash al Qaeda and punish the Taliban for hosting them. Mission accomplished. Within six months. The correct military action would have been to remove our conventional-force presence while the jihadi bodies were still warm.
Instead, ideologues safe at home declared that we had to nation-build where there was no nation. Or "we'd have to go back."
Going back would have been an eff of a lot cheaper.
And while we tied our forces down to worthless Afghan real estate, al Qaeda just went elsewhere. (Rule No. 1: When fighting a mobile enemy, stay mobile.)
Reuters
Still in the war zone: A soldier from the 36th Infantry Regiment, on alert Friday just after an IED blew near his strongpoint in Kandahar Province.
Then we politicized our commitment. Hating George W. Bush with the bigotry only a simpering faculty can muster, American liberals damned the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. No matter that, had Bill Clinton done the deed, they'd have heralded him as the greatest liberator since Abraham Lincoln.
But impending elections required the left to play up national security. So the fool's errand in Afghanistan — turning savages into apprentice Americans — became their "good war" by default.
Running for office, Barack Obama promised to "fix Afghanistan" after Bush's "neglect." Elected, Obama found himself trapped in a commitment that looked like a loser, but one he had to appear to honor. So we got a surge that was on the meter before it began.
As military strategy, it was nuts. Politically, it split the difference brilliantly.
And our troops continued to be killed and maimed (1,793 killed in action and almost 18,000 wounded in action to date) for a mission the new president didn't believe in.
Ironically, his surge was backed by an unholy clot of conservative think-tank wonks to whom war was all theory; of generals bent on self-glorification; of the groupies who praised those generals in print, and of politicians unable to accept that they'd called Afghanistan wrong.
They all were willing to fight to the last private.
But the simple fact the wise men missed was that killing terrorists works, while trying to buy the love of their fan base doesn't.
Now President Obama — a breathtaking politician — congratulates himself for ending the surge he ordered and ending the war he expanded. He found a mess, sent young Americans to die without making a difference, and managed to duck the blame — while leaving the conservatives who backed his troop surge hanging. The guy is good.
Just not at strategy. A recent report by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF — the multinational headquarters in Kabul) states that Afghanistan is worse off than it was pre-surge. And the report cites the hard numbers.
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