this has come up in the forums before . . . I just don't see how a surge can work in afghanistan. a surge presumes that occupying strategic ground is a major goal, and there just isn't any strategic ground in afghanistan. it also presumes that there is (or was) a functioning government, transportation infrastructure, an economy, and national/international communications.
none of those things exist in afghanistan. if you carpet bombed the entire place, you would have bombed it up to the stone age.
not to mention (and I don't intend to directly compare the two . . . ) the fact that if 130,000 troops was the answer to conquering afghanistan, the soviets would have accomplished it back in the 80s.
U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is InsufficientBAGRAM, Afghanistan — American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.
The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies.
The possibility that more troops will be needed in Afghanistan presents the Obama administration with another problem in dealing with a nearly eight-year war that has lost popularity at home, compounded by new questions over the credibility of the Afghan government, which has just held an as-yet inconclusive presidential election beset by complaints of fraud.
The assessments come as the top American commander in the country, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been working to complete a major war strategy review, and as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, described a worsening situation in Afghanistan despite the recent addition of 17,000 American troops ordered by the Obama administration and the extra security efforts surrounding the presidential election.
“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Mullen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.” He added that General McChrystal was still completing his review and had not yet requested additional troops on top of the those added by Mr. Obama.
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