For my first analysis post, I said that the U.S. needed to increase our military presence in Afghanistan in order to combat the Taliban and train more Afghan soldiers. I still support this stance but defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan will require more than simply sending in more troops.
First and foremost is the sorry state of the Afghan forces fighting the Taliban. Though Afghanistan’s military is about 300,000 strong, it suffers greatly from poor leadership, corruption, and lack of political will. As a result, casualties among Afghan troops are very high. Between August 22 and 29, 125 Afghan soldiers were killed in action and nearly 300 more were wounded across 37 different locations in Afghanistan. That’s almost 18 deaths per day. And as of September 30, actual casualty rates could be even higher as these statistics only represent casualties lifted out by air.
Furthermore, it is often difficult to tell where the enemy is, and it’s all too easy for friendly Afghan forces to be infiltrated or corrupted. Last week, 13 Afghan soldiers were killed at a security checkpoint in the Kunduz province by Taliban forces who were aided and later joined by 2 other Afghan soldiers. Increased contact and training with U.S. troops would likely be an effective counter to issues like this, as well as equipping and locating U.S. troops for combat operations in the country.
However, if there is an increase of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, it is critical that our forces avoid mistakes and friendly fire incidents. A recent U.S. airstrike around Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of the Uruzgan province, was conducted to aid Afghan forces who were engaged with Taliban forces. Instead, the airstrike killed at least 8 Afghan police officers.
This incident and others such as the bombing of an MSF hospital last year do more to harm our mission in Afghanistan than attacks by the Taliban do. This must be understood not only by our troops on the ground, but also by the American public if we are to triumph in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, the war against the Taliban will not be won simply in combat, but in the government as well. Members of the Hazara ethnic minority in Afghanistan have staged massive protests across the country against the U.S.-backed government. Calling themselves the Enlightening, they mobilized these demonstrations against what they say is systematic discrimination by the government. Diplomatic pressure, rather than military force, is the key to this problem. The U.S. can’t afford to alienate anymore people in this region than we already have. Likewise, the last thing we should do is consciously deprive ourselves of a potential ally in the ongoing war on terror.
In a country where the enemy controls nearly a third of the land, we must put an undying emphasis on doing things right the first time.