General David Petraeus the overall Commander of allied forces in Afghanistan is now saying what I have been saying on these pages for some time now that the only way to win in Afghanistan is a substantial assault on the Taliban, as things stand although the enemy cant win militarily all they really need to do is sit it out, eventually western troops would have to leave. This would count as a victory for them and be a huge recruitment boost for the terrorists.
Over the years the Afghani’s have had many battles they have won by outstaying the enemy, most notably and most recently against the might of the then Soviet Union. This looks to be going the same way unless we change our approach, I have been arguing for a while now that only a sustained overpowering assault will break the Taliban, and by sustained maybe 6/9 months, the hearts and minds softly approach has not and will not work there.
There are to many separate factions led by to many Warlords that have their own private battles they chop and change their alliances as and when it suits them, many sides will fight for money rather than ideology, and this makes it harder to negotiate a peace. So now that General Petraeus has said it maybe we will have some some movement on the troop front, the formula is simple overwhelming firepower, this is where Nato Countries need to contribute more , there is to much burden on Britain and the US.
Massive numbers of boots on the ground, stifle the enemy movement, block all supply routes then move in and crush, do not give them time to regroup and re-arm as happened in the past in the guise of a ceasefire.
General Petraeus took charge in Iraq when it was being said the Country was imploding and there was no hope, using the same formula we have a very different Iraq today, its not perfect by any means but its a million miles away from where it was in the early days of the conflict. And the situation there is improving daily, Iraqi Troops are responsible for their own security and Nato troops are there mainly as back up.
So lets back the General and we may not have our troops home by this Christmas but lets make sure they are back by the next one.
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