Kim Sengupta: The West cannot afford to make any more mistakes
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
Speaking about the military doctrine the Americans are taking into Helmand, US Army Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said: "Where we go, we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, and we will build." The policy differs from that adopted by the British forces in the province who could not often hold the terrain, not because they did not want to, but because there were not enough boots on the ground to do so.
The problem this posed could be seen at a number of flashpoints. At Kajaki, I accompanied British troops who fought hard to capture an enemy position and then had to withdraw because it was simply not possible to keep it occupied. Within a day or so, we would again start taking rocket and mortar fire from the same position.
Garmsir, on the other hand, is an example of what can be achieved with adequate troop numbers. I was there in 2006. The main urban centre – known as "the snake's head" because of its topography – had seen constant fighting, changing hands between coalition forces and militants. One attempt to wrest control was undertaken by just 17 British troops alongside 10 Estonians and 200 Afghans.
But last year, a force of 2,000 US Marines, backed by massive firepower, captured Garmsir. And returning a month ago it was still out of Taliban hands, and in fact had a thriving market.
Aware that the 17,000 American troops pouring into Helmand brought with them the possibility of the province turning into a US show, British military commanders asked for 2,500 extra troops to boost the 8,000-strong contingent. The-then defence secretary, John Hutton, supported the proposal but the Prime Minister refused it, authorising instead a temporary deployment of just 700 for the election period in August. The plan now is that with the US forces carrying out the majority of the offensive operations, the British will be able to concentrate on smaller areas where they can provide the necessary security for reconstruction. Whether all this works remains to be seen.
A long hot summer of attritional fighting is expected and the political landscape may change with the 20 August ballot. What the West cannot afford to do is make more mistakes in Afghanistan. And time is not on their side.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
KIM
What is WEST?
Why do you talk of West?
West makes a mistake, West rushes to Russia, Japan, India, Korea, Iran, and try to dominate these. West takes oil from the Middle East hoards this and sales at the price we have no idea in transit. East is messed up because of West. On the other hand, is East or was following USA to be specific all the time? Now that USA is leaning badly in the grooves of the economy quagmires, we talk of UK out now USA as West. Friend the BBC I read has another name if you did not hear. It is Bush Blaire Corporation.
UK is following blindly to USA including this bloody keyboard I use and the spelling of centre to center.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
So now Obomber is starting out with Dumbya's first elementary mistake, one he in turn inherited from Vietnam.
The notion that Yanks can "hold and build" simply because they are getting a few thousand reinforcements is ludicrous. There are millions of warlike Pashtuns with a huge opium-financed war chest. The Tajik and Uzbek narco-warlords in Kabul have a vested interest in seeing the Pashtuns continue selling opium and buying arms. Nothing that the Yanks can throw at the Pashtuns will ever overwhelm them and nothing that the Yanks do can will ever "fix" Afghanistan.
BTW "Al Khidmat" is the same charity that CIA agent Tim Osman aka Osama bin Laden was using as a front in the US to recruit Jihadis:
Shame that Islamist charities won't do anything for the people of Afghanistan, then. All that Islamists do there is terrorise the local population.
In fact the reason why the majority population in Pakistan has suddenly turned against the Taliban,which had a wide degree of populist sympathy before, is that they have seen what happened to the local population in Pakistan when the Taliban takes over. Details of their extremely brutal, terrorising rule, including the casual execution of a young couple for adultery, were captured on video and widely circulated, causing widespread revulsion. The position at present is that the majority of the population in Pakistan are prepared to put up with the excesses of the army as long as the Taliban are neutralised.
Hell you ain't jaded, dude, you're just totally smashed. Stoned, doped-out, trippin. You're shooting way too much of that Afghan poppy-juice, it's making you believe that Pak propaganda is real. Remember Pakistan, home base of the guys who shot up Mumbai, paid Mohammed Atta, peddled nukes to Iran and Libya? Take that Afpak feelgood juice with a pinch of salt, is my advice to you.
The empire's "mistake" in Afghanistan is being there in the first place. The idea that the rule of an alien empire over the Afghans will become more acceptable to them as entrenched colonial garrisons in the towns than it has been as a hit-and-run punitive force is at once naive and hubristic.
No amount of imperial violence however applied will entrench the colonial regime. The occupation is doomed to fail, and the defeat of the imperial legions will be a good thing.