Aug 20 2008
First A Pakistan “Awakening”, Now An Afghanistan “Surge”
A successful counter-insurgency strategy, like the one used to gain victory in Iraq, will play out with its own unique pattern and forces in the war against the last large enclave of Islamo Fascist militants in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. If it happens it will not be identical to what happened in Iraq, where the combination of a “Surge” of troops to clear areas of terrorist militants and an Awakening among the locals that the enemy was not the US but was al-Qaeda sustained the security of the cleared areas. If it happens in Pakistan it will be similar, but still unique.
So I was interested in seeing a plan for a “Surge” in Afghanistan by NATO forces:
The death comes as Britain’s special forces look to play a key role in a newly planned “surge”.
The Independent has learned that British troops are to be used to dramatically expand the Army’s “decapitation” strategy working alongside United States Marines against the Taleban leadership.
The operation will coincide with an increase in overall troop numbers in Afghanistan. US forces are expected to expand by a third and British troop numbers will also increase as more forces are pulled out of Iraq.
After seeing signs of an Awakening in the Pakistan tribal areas (and an apparent surge of military forces into that region) it seems America and her allies (western and regional) area preparing to adapt the winning strategy from Iraq to the region. I recently posted on the Awakening signs in Pakistan here, here and here.
BTW, the death mentioned in the snippet above was of a top Taliban commander taken out by the Aussies. Great work mates!
It will not be long before the weather starts becoming a factor over there.
Snow and ice come to those high mountain passes very early.
Good post AJ. I have enjoyed your reporting of the Iraq war and Afghanistan war since it seems to be straightforward without the liberal bias of the MSM or the meddling of the State Department’s state of surrender. Most of your posts I have been able to corroborate since I have had inside info on the situation in Iraq from Sept. 2006 until March 2008. And now have current inside info from Afghanistan starting last month.
My older brother’s daughter has served with distinction for our armed forces since July 2003 when she signed up for six years. Since that time she has served our country well in South Korea, Iraq (Anbar and Diyala), and currently in Afghanistan (at an undisclosed location). She was on leave from March 2008 until last month and her reports of the change in Iraq from late 06 to the spring of this year are astonishing. From pitched battles to serene quietness, it is a story that the MSM should be ashamed not to have reported in detail. The lack of honor in the Andrea Mitchell’s of the world is disgusting. I have no respect for the MSM and probably will never have anymore. I think my respect for any MSM person died with Russert.
Once again those dishonorable journalists are late to the game. The counterinsurgency operations were already in place when my niece arrived in Afghanistan. It looks from her reports that General “Betray-us” will again lead our forces to victory which of course will go unreported by our MSM.