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| Afghanistan |
| Newsday: General Barno Plans Changes in Afghan Strategy |
| 2003-12-20 |
| EFL In Afghanistan a time of decision comes for all concerned. Lt. Gen. David Barno told The Associated Press that the move will make the troubled south and east safer for aid workers and open the way for landmark Afghan elections next summer. He also predicted a sharp reaction from insurgents. So far, most of the so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams are in relatively secure regions. Now, the U.S. military is deploying teams across a broad swath of the country dominated by Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group from which the hardline Islamic Taliban draw their main support. Barno, who took command of the 11,000-strong U.S. force here on Nov. 27, said there will be at least 12 such reconstruction teams by March and more later, including dangerous missions in the capitals of Zabul and Uruzgan provinces that were shunned by aid groups because Taliban militants reportedly roam freely. Casualty numbers will increase. This strategy punches holes in my belief that the US had little intension of improving conditions in Afghanistan. I felt that we were just going to deny the area to AQ. I am concerned but pleased. I sure that the Vietnam eara guys recognize this particular gambit. "We are looking at a significant alteration of our strategy in the south and east," Barno said at his office in the fortified U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul. The military teams will help distribute reconstruction aid bolstered by an extra $1.2 billion recently released by the U.S. Congress. That aid, combined with the opening of the south and east by a string of new military operations, will cause "a dramatic change in the amount of involvement of the people in that area in support of the central government and the future of Afghanistan," Barno said. Aid groups worry that their attempts to remain independent in the eyes of Afghans, including Taliban sympathizers, has been compromised by U.S. involvement in delivering assistance. But Barno suggested it was time for relief groups to accept that they could not be neutral after a stream of deliberate attacks on de-miners and well-diggers, and said he hoped aid workers would return to Pashtun areas. The endgame begins. "They probably have to, and they are, realizing that they are now operating in a different world," he said. "We don’t have the capacity in the coalition to (provide protection) in every town, in every village across the country, but we can provide a great deal of assistance and intelligence sharing," Barno said. At least 11 aid workers have been killed in attacks this year, including a French U.N. refugee worker who was gunned down at short range by suspected Taliban in the eastern city of Ghazni in November. The top U.N. official in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, warned last week that the world body may have to abandon its two-year effort to help reconstruct the war-battered country unless security improves. I think we can get more actual aid to the people who need it if the US uses US AID instead of funneling dollars through multiple layers of UN bureaucracy. Barno said insurgents were reduced to "very small and very focused" attacks. "As this future continues to unfold, the terrorist organizations are challenged to show that they exist at all." |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #3 If I did not know better, I might think Barno was using aid workers as flypaper. |
| Posted by: john 2003-12-20 10:43:03 PM |
| #2 My take is that Afghanistan has become the poster child for the limitations of international agencies in this sort of work. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan does not have a history of major urban life, of industry and thriving commerce or of universal education. Reconstruction there is really just first time construction in many ways. We will do our best to improve things for the Afghanis but inevitably it is a less promising arena ... still important to hold it, against the Talebani and to keep both Pakistan and Iran company ..... |
| Posted by: rkb 2003-12-20 8:00:31 PM |
| #1 Let those worthless UN f--ks run away, and document it. To build up a country with a history of many decades of war and anarchy requires people of character and determination. One cannot remain neutral on the WoT. I am immensely proud of our forces and allies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other places that do not get much press. Despite the barrage of crap from mainstream media, our forces and our allies are doing the heavy lifting and getting things done so we all can be safer. I wish General Barno much success in his efforts in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-20 7:15:37 PM |