The Plan: Hang Around and Die Until 2014

by Jack Lee

General John R. Allen, USMC, is the commander of US forces in Afghanistan. In an interview with 60 Minutes reporter, Laura Logan, he says the signature attacks in Iraq were the IED’s. Now in Afghanistan the new trend is the “insider attack.” These are Afghan soldiers and policeman who have turned their weapons on their Americans trainers and helpers.

Gen. Allen termed these assaults as [murder] and said, “We’re prepared to do a lot of things to help them, but being murdered is not one of them”. On two prior occasions he was forced to halt our training program for Afghan Security Forces due to these insider blue on green attacks.

“On Saturday night, an Afghan soldier approached Americans, killing a soldier and a contractor; with that, the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan is around 2,100 in the United States’ 11-year-war in the country. Insider attacks have become increasingly common – and no one seems to have a good answer about how to stop them.” NBC’s Lester Holt and Richard Engel report from Kabul.

Since the beginning of this year there have been 63 murders of US soldiers by Afghan soldiers and police officers, the very ones we trained and trusted. The latest murders came at a roadside check point where Afghan Security personnel shot and killed an American truck driver civilian and his US Army guard. Prior to that 3 US soldiers died when an Afghan policeman set off a bomb as they entered their vehicle. 11 civilians were also killed. (See photo upper left)

Gen. Allen says one of the big problems has been our ally Pakistan. They are secretly providing a safe haven for Afghan terrorists inside their borders. They’re allowing them to move freely between the two countries and worse, the Pakistani’s are continually providing them with direct military support.

This has reversed many of the past gains against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It has been well established for years that the Pakistan Intelligence Agency, the INI, helped created the Taliban to fight the Soviets and they have maintained a continuous working relationship with their siblings ever since.

Afghan’s President Karsai said the reason for the American invasion was due to Al Qaeda terrorism. He notes with grim resign that 11 years later US forces are seeing a reversal of our gains. The terrorists are moving back in, in force, because they are seeing weakness and confusion amid the American leadership, starting with Obama. He blames the American’s mostly for this, but he also accepts some of that responsibility because his soldiers are still not up to speed. Karsai pointed out the Taliban are more closely aligned with AQ than ever. Further, they now have free run in many of Afghanistan’s rural tribal regions.

President Karsai said, “A lot of innocent people die every day and the question is, what have we done wrong? What can we do differently?” Karzai says he is not satisfied with the level of internal security and much needs to be done between his government and US forces.

However, the only solid plan of action for US forces is to leave Afghanistan sometime in 2014, no matter what happens in the meantime. This means as Taliban attacks increase and US losses mount, our end game is to leave. So, here we sit waiting while the enemy is growing stronger, unable to attack their training bases inside Pakistan and halt their supply routes. We’re coming under daily attacks by so-called friendlies, and for what reason, so we can say we met some arbitrary deadline for withdrawal? That’s some plan. I would not be very happy to be on the front lines waiting with no mission, no hope of winning, just waiting so we could meet some political deadline.

President Obama set up the time table, and this has cost him some support from his core supporters. Romney on the other hand, is moving to the right of Obama for a potential withdrawal date. This is 180 degrees out of synch with the people and it is bound to cost him. I imagine that if Romney was talking about ending our role in Afghanistan sooner than 2014 he would leading Obama.