July 14, 2010 10:32 AM
- Text
More Troops To Afghanistan Not In Doubt
(CBS)
Bruce Henderson writes for And Still I Persist and is a former Marine who focuses custom data mining and visualization technologies on the economy and other disasters.
Yesterday the Washington Post disclosed that the Obama administration has authorized the deployment of 13,000 military personnel, well beyond the previously forecast numbers in Afghanistan. Based on the time of year, and the nature of the units being deployed, this buildup represents the pre-positioning of support infrastructure, the sort put in place to support a larger number of combat brigades. While additional forces engaged in Afghanistan will be welcome news to most, the tactics they will use and their rules of engagement will ultimately support or inhibit their success.
Even as the Obama administration went through an elaborate series of meetings last week to discuss Afghanistan strategy, the Pentagon was quietly deploying units in-country, totaling 13,000. As reported, these units perform support, administration and maintenance tasks for front line troops. This includes combat and civil engineering units, medical and hospital personnel, intelligence specialists and military police and security units.
Early deployment of these support troops will enable a rapid and forceful deployment of a large number of combat brigades to Afghanistan on fairly short notice. Word from field training centers at Camp Pendleton, Fort Irwin and other locations that have specialized in honing units counter insurgency skills is that a large number of Marine Corps and Army units are in the pipeline. Regardless of the public show the Obama administration is putting on display for consumption by his anti-war base, the facts describe a muscular and vigorous increase in combat forces - soon.
The timing of this surge is as much about the calendar as it is about meeting military objectives. It is typical for conflict in Afghanistan to wind down during the fall and winter months, as it just gets too cold and brutal for even the most rabid jihadist to carry out operations. This has given a seasonal swing to severity of insurgency that was present even when the Russians were trying to pacify this region. This seasonal slowdown provides a natural and handy window to transport and acclimate units into the harsh, high altitude conditions of the country.
In the past year, as Iraq has stabilized, it has become a less fruitful place for young Muslim men to engage in jihad. As the locals decided that the Saudis and Syrians and other "trouble makers" were doing nothing that benefited the local peace or prosperity, the Arab imports were either driven out, or killed by Iraqis, US soldiers or Predator Hellfire missiles. As a result, the epicenter of the holy war against the pork-eating crusaders has shifted to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As we have seen in the news, the forces of militant Islam are seeking to undermine any fragile sense or order in Afghanistan, while at the same time displacing the Pakistani government from as much area in the west of their country as possible. This is high, dry, cold and mountainous terrain. While our forces are the best that any country can field, rooting out the enemy from this hostile landscape is going to require one of the most difficult and heroic efforts since the battle of Fallujah.
In response, look for between 25,000 - 30,000 combat soldiers and Marines to be in Afghanistan not later than February 28th, in time to train in-country in the cold, thin air. Once acclimatized, they will be forward based to the Afghan eastern and southern frontier for combat operations starting in the spring.
In the end, the success of this surge will be driven not by the unmatched skill or courage of our men and women in uniform, but rather by the boldness of the tactics that will be employed come this spring. At present the rules of engagement (the directives that govern when forces can unleash the devastation of their weaponry) restrict them so severely that it is a genuine threat to their lives, such as what led up to the battle of Wanat. During that battle in July of 2009, the Taliban insurgents used the local village as cover to attack Chosen Company, 503rd Infantry Regiment, knowing that the rules of engagement protected them from counter attack while they were in the village.
Though it is not in his nature, President Obama must urge his generals to "surprise" the enemy in the spring with overwhelming and relentless firepower. A year of massive, devastating destruction at the hands of Uncle Sam's finest is exactly what the Taliban and their imported Arab jihad goons have ordered up, and I strongly encourage he authorize the Marines and the Army to supply just that, in full.
By Bruce Henderson:
Reprinted with permission from
Yesterday the Washington Post disclosed that the Obama administration has authorized the deployment of 13,000 military personnel, well beyond the previously forecast numbers in Afghanistan. Based on the time of year, and the nature of the units being deployed, this buildup represents the pre-positioning of support infrastructure, the sort put in place to support a larger number of combat brigades. While additional forces engaged in Afghanistan will be welcome news to most, the tactics they will use and their rules of engagement will ultimately support or inhibit their success.
Even as the Obama administration went through an elaborate series of meetings last week to discuss Afghanistan strategy, the Pentagon was quietly deploying units in-country, totaling 13,000. As reported, these units perform support, administration and maintenance tasks for front line troops. This includes combat and civil engineering units, medical and hospital personnel, intelligence specialists and military police and security units.
Early deployment of these support troops will enable a rapid and forceful deployment of a large number of combat brigades to Afghanistan on fairly short notice. Word from field training centers at Camp Pendleton, Fort Irwin and other locations that have specialized in honing units counter insurgency skills is that a large number of Marine Corps and Army units are in the pipeline. Regardless of the public show the Obama administration is putting on display for consumption by his anti-war base, the facts describe a muscular and vigorous increase in combat forces - soon.
The timing of this surge is as much about the calendar as it is about meeting military objectives. It is typical for conflict in Afghanistan to wind down during the fall and winter months, as it just gets too cold and brutal for even the most rabid jihadist to carry out operations. This has given a seasonal swing to severity of insurgency that was present even when the Russians were trying to pacify this region. This seasonal slowdown provides a natural and handy window to transport and acclimate units into the harsh, high altitude conditions of the country.
In the past year, as Iraq has stabilized, it has become a less fruitful place for young Muslim men to engage in jihad. As the locals decided that the Saudis and Syrians and other "trouble makers" were doing nothing that benefited the local peace or prosperity, the Arab imports were either driven out, or killed by Iraqis, US soldiers or Predator Hellfire missiles. As a result, the epicenter of the holy war against the pork-eating crusaders has shifted to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As we have seen in the news, the forces of militant Islam are seeking to undermine any fragile sense or order in Afghanistan, while at the same time displacing the Pakistani government from as much area in the west of their country as possible. This is high, dry, cold and mountainous terrain. While our forces are the best that any country can field, rooting out the enemy from this hostile landscape is going to require one of the most difficult and heroic efforts since the battle of Fallujah.
In response, look for between 25,000 - 30,000 combat soldiers and Marines to be in Afghanistan not later than February 28th, in time to train in-country in the cold, thin air. Once acclimatized, they will be forward based to the Afghan eastern and southern frontier for combat operations starting in the spring.
In the end, the success of this surge will be driven not by the unmatched skill or courage of our men and women in uniform, but rather by the boldness of the tactics that will be employed come this spring. At present the rules of engagement (the directives that govern when forces can unleash the devastation of their weaponry) restrict them so severely that it is a genuine threat to their lives, such as what led up to the battle of Wanat. During that battle in July of 2009, the Taliban insurgents used the local village as cover to attack Chosen Company, 503rd Infantry Regiment, knowing that the rules of engagement protected them from counter attack while they were in the village.
Though it is not in his nature, President Obama must urge his generals to "surprise" the enemy in the spring with overwhelming and relentless firepower. A year of massive, devastating destruction at the hands of Uncle Sam's finest is exactly what the Taliban and their imported Arab jihad goons have ordered up, and I strongly encourage he authorize the Marines and the Army to supply just that, in full.
By Bruce Henderson:
Reprinted with permission from
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