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Opinion: America's One Big Mistake in Afghanistan - fighting the wrong war
[Military Times] In his June 23, 2019 Military Times opinion article "America’s three big mistakes in Afghanistan," Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc (Ret) correctly noted three factors, which contributed to the pending U.S. defeat in Afghanistan:Misstep No. 1: The expansion of US forces and the introduction of large conventional units into the vast expanse of Afghanistan; Misstep No. 2: Allowing the Taliban resurgence to occur in Afghanistan-2003-2009 and 2014-2019; Misstep No. 3: Our inability to manage, let alone solve, Afghanistan’s illicit narcotics trade." Yet, none of those three could have been corrected or decisive while ignoring the geopolitical realities upon which an effective strategy is based. That geopolitical reality is Pakistan, which has never shared the same objectives for Afghanistan as the U.S. and from which American strategic "mistakes" originated, those beyond the self-inflicted wounds of poor management and accountability, well-documented by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. American military leaders consistently violated the most fundamental of strategic principles, ones taught at every U.S. war college, know your enemy and do not mistake a war for something that is alien to its nature. The war in Afghanistan is not an insurgency. It is a proxy war being waged by Pakistan against the U.S. and Afghanistan. Posted by: Besoeker 2019-06-26 |
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