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2011-02-25 Afghanistan
US withdrawing its forces from Pech Valley, once called vital
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Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-02-25 08:16|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ]  Top

#1 In Vietnam we used to call this tactic "Strategic Hamlets". After "Hamburger Hill" Ted Kennedy said we should pull back and only protect the cities.
Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2011-02-25 10:28||   2011-02-25 10:28|| Front Page Top

#2 Key points: Afghan units will remain in the valley, a test of their military readiness.

and...

"What we figured out is that people in the Pech really aren’t anti-U.S. or anti-anything; they just want to be left alone," said one American military official familiar with the decision. "Our presence is what’s destabilizing this area."
Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-25 10:48||   2011-02-25 10:48|| Front Page Top

#3 Afghanization?
Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2011-02-25 11:24||   2011-02-25 11:24|| Front Page Top

#4 This area is a main focus of Bing West in his new book "The Wrong War". Only four chapters in but it is a good and knowledgable description of what is and was going on.
Posted by bman 2011-02-25 11:29||   2011-02-25 11:29|| Front Page Top

#5 In other words: the Obama administration has handled the Taliban a strategic and, more important, propagandistic victory.
Posted by JFM  2011-02-25 11:41||   2011-02-25 11:41|| Front Page Top

#6 JFM: No. Not so much the Talib as it is local tribes. And its not as strategically important now as the more populated areas are. Situations change therefore strategic objective and importance changes.

If the military does not change strategy with reality, then you get mismatched strategies that fail - for instance the Ardennes were not strategically important to the French compared to Belgium, so they oriented all their main forces to moving into Belgium to fight the Germans there at the Dyle river. It was a good plan until it met the reality of the German's strategiv value that differed. Guderian slammed his Panzers through there and caused France to collapse in May of 1940.

Strategies and strategic values change.
Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-25 12:16||   2011-02-25 12:16|| Front Page Top

#7 If the area has quieted down and foreign troops are causing some disquiet from the locals, it is only good strategic sense to send in local troops and pull out our boys. Just make sure you keep the supply lines for the Taliwackers cut and the local troops supported with intel, bullets and the occasional night strike by the special ops units.

I see it as a strategic win if the locals just want everyone to go away and we can keep the Taliban out by not being there.
Posted by DarthVader 2011-02-25 12:28||   2011-02-25 12:28|| Front Page Top

#8 The Taliban have read the 'tea leaves' and now appear to be targeting Afghan National Army, Afghan Police, and Border Patrol elements. Leaving ISAF out of the fight gives the Taliban an opportunity to punch lighter, less deadly targets and facilitate rather than disrupt the already timelined ISAF departure. There was a recent "reintegration" ceremony of a significant Taliban element in Kandahar. This event obviously does not fit the time honored Fall reitegration schedule. Added to this event is word of a continuing rift and turmoil in the Taliban senior leadership. All of which could point to a lighter than expected Spring Offensive. What is not visible are the secret negociations between the Taliban and the Obama Administration. This is the real 'wild card.' The next 6-12 months should be very interesting.
Posted by Besoeker 2011-02-25 12:51||   2011-02-25 12:51|| Front Page Top

#9 One of the unmentioned changes is that the UAVs are now patrolling the passes and are more effective at intervention on the Paki side of things near the Pech, which is something our troops on the ground could not do.
Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-25 13:39||   2011-02-25 13:39|| Front Page Top

#10 Hit submit too soon... One other thing: if they are right (good intel?) once our guys pull out, and the ANA goes in and does nothing, the tribes will end up keeping busy by warring against each other over goats and such, as they have done for centuries.
Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-25 13:41||   2011-02-25 13:41|| Front Page Top

#11 Old Spook seems most germane here. Also curious that nearby Nuristan was the last Afghan area to fall to the Muslims - IIRC barely a century ago in the 1890s. Be interesting if the Indians could get them to unconvert.
Posted by Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2011-02-25 18:25||   2011-02-25 18:25|| Front Page Top

#12 I remember reading somewhere that Afghans had always been at each others throats since time immemorial, and the ONLY thing that ever united them was a shared hatred of the Russians.

If only we could turn them against the Pakistanis, now that would be real progress!
Posted by Scooter McGruder 2011-02-25 19:20||   2011-02-25 19:20|| Front Page Top

#13 Take it,
Mine it,
Leave it,
watch while the winds of change blow the leaves in...
Blow it.
Posted by Skidmark 2011-02-25 23:35||   2011-02-25 23:35|| Front Page Top

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