Monday, October 15, 2001

Forward Positions in Afghanistan

I agree with the U.S defense secretary, I feel over the last couple of days, we have taken our eyes of the ball. To the world outside, it does not seem whether the U.S is going after the terrorists or the taliban, in trying to balance politics and the military objectives, i fear that we will not achieve neither. Given the sensitivity of pakistan having U.S forces on its soil, I think that the planners should actively cosider locating forward positions inside Afghanistan. This should be composed of about 1000 to 2000 soldiers. The forward positions should be easily capable of being defended from the air and the ground and supplied. From this base, the soldiers can lauch quick and quite search and destory operations. In trying to take path of least resistance we will only come to grief. Trying to scare the taliban or bin laden the way we did milosivic is not going to work. I am certain in my mind that the terrorists had planned to suck America into afghanistan on the ground. However they propably figured that the ground force would be conventional in nature. But two can play that game. Our goals must be to actively dislodge the taliban and destroy the terrorists. It seems the state department does not seem to realize that they are one and the same. There is no such thing as a moderate fundamentalist or a compassionate terrorist. The sooner we recognize this basic axiom, the quicker we can focus all our energies on meeting our objectives.