Max Boot goes to Afghanistan and reports back in The Weekly Standard:
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Gukeisen, the hulking commander of the 3-71 Cavalry Squadron (equivalent to a battalion), explains that the worst fighting is over here. His troops cleared out the Taliban this summer and established a “security bubble” around Baraki Barak. Now they are implementing what they call an “Extreme Makeover,” using CERP dollars (Commander’s Emergency Response Program) to build projects requested by local villagers. All such projects are designed to provide employment for young men so that they will not be tempted to accept the Taliban’s money to plant IEDs. At the same time, Gukeisen is running his own radio station and handing out hand-cranked radios to get out the message that the Americans are here to help and the Taliban aren’t. He is publicizing statistics showing that more Afghans than Americans have been wounded in Taliban attacks.
The results have been dramatic. Attacks are down 62 percent and intelligence tips are up 80 percent since August, Gukeisen tells me, adding, “We’re not just baking cookies. We’re regularly shwacking bad guys based on good intel.” But Gukeisen is part of a new breed of Army commanders who know that you can’t kill your way out of an insurgency. While it’s important to kill or detain insurgents, even more important is to provide durable security and some prospect of a better life to the population. And that’s just what he’s doing here in cooperation with more than 150 Afghan soldiers and police officers.
He goes on to say:
Yes, winning will be difficult. Tremendous obstacles abound, ranging from the resilience of the Taliban to the ineptitude and corruption of the Afghan government. But it is hardly mission impossible. In areas such as Baraki Barak, U.S. soldiers and civilians have been making impressive progress ever since this summer, when the U.S. troop level in Afghanistan hit 64,000–up from just 32,000 in 2008. (There are now 68,000 troops with the arrival of another brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division devoted to training Afghan soldiers in the south.) But there are still far too few U.S. soldiers here to roll back years of gains by the Taliban in the south and east of the country.
He’s right– it ain’t easy but it’s not impossible either. But as we have pointed out (and tens of thousands of good men on the ground are proving every day), it’s straightforward. Give them the right tools, the right guidance, and good solid leadership and turn them loose. They’ll win every time.
In the same vein, and also from TWS, the father and brother of a Marine say “It’s time to make a decision on Afghanistan.”
