William Pfaff
The first decision made by Gen.
He has done so because it has not worked. It has failed to "clear" Taliban guerilla forces from the areas taken by international security troops. The guerrillas leave when the foreign troops launch an offensive. They inflict casualties on the invaders as they go, leaving behind mines, roadside bombs, booby-trapped roads and houses, intending to harm apprehensive peasants and townspeople as well, who know that the Taliban will eventually return, and that those Afghans who have collaborated with the foreigners will be punished or killed.
The prospect of giving
Minimize artillery use, rockets and air strikes to spare civilians, even when this makes the troops angry because they believe they are put at risk. Win hearts and minds; drive away the guerrilla activists; establish good government for the rest.
A new policy was made known in
While the U.S. command in
The second problem with such a policy is that there are a great many potential Taliban leaders in
The final problem with this policy is typically American -- it doesn't reverse-think. It assumes that others are not like us. The logic of a policy that says killing leaders will make the Taliban surrender implies that if the Taliban successfully introduce bombs into the various American military headquarters and the embassy in
In what would seem an excess of optimism, U.S. officials in
My own belief is that we are far from the end game in
President
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(C) 2010 William Pfaff