Do you remember those words?
They are words that most of us try to live by…..especially if you live where I live…..in the path of a hurricane. If you do then you are well aware of what “be prepared” means.
But for this post I am not going to go on about a hurricane….nope this time I want to talk about our longest war…..Afghanistan and the Taleban. Now with the mission extended indefinitely….are we more prepared now?
Were we as a nation ready to fight the Taleban? Were we prepared? I mean they, Taleban, are having some amazing successes….why is that?
I know that we, at least to some, have an unbeatable military….but the problem is we were fighting with the tactics of our last war…..Gulf War in 1991.
For instance in the 1960’s when the CIA and the Bolivian government were hunting down Che they made it mandatory that his book on guerilla warfare was “must” reading and they used his tactics against him….he was captured and murdered.
Vietnam is an example where they were employing the wrong strategy….the Viet Cong and the NVA were masters at guerilla warfare….it was a winner against the French….but for some reason we did not take their tactics seriously and look where that lead the country.
If our “leaders” had spent a little time reading the book by Giap, “People’s Army People’s War” then were would have been more successful….for in his book he outlines the best strategies to use against a larger more powerful enemy….
This brings me to our 2001 invasion of Afghanistan……it is true that we routed the Taleban in a very short time….but it was NOT defeated and has been a hit and run pain in the ass for 15 years.
I know hindsight is 20/20 but it also can be very telling of inadequacies….
Are you scratching your head yet?
In 1995 a book was published entitled “the Other Side Of The Mountain” about the Afghan guerilla warfare….it is choked full of tactics used by the Mujahideen fighters against the Russians in the 1980’s…..
The book is full of detailed tactics that were used….the same tactics that are being used today by the Taleban against the forces that are occupying the country.
I believe that we would be having greater success against the Taleban if this had been required reading of those that were leading the fight in Afghanistan….
Remember: Reading is Fundamental!
With the chronic Republican-orchestrated shortfall in military funding and in VA funding and with the advent of alternate lifestyles and females into the armed forces and with the relaxing of rules and regulations on deportment etc., I would say we are anything but combat ready because I do not think the training is tough enough anymore and I know pretty certain that the “Troops” are willing but I think they are less strong and maybe even less committed than a few decades ago. I think we have gotten weaker militarily what with spreading our resources out so much around the globe … i.e., troops of one kind or another in more than 130 places around the globe … it is laughable … and scary.
That Iranian investigation found that the moral of the troops was low….military funding is doing fine…I mean they can find billions for a plane that is a failure then they are getting enough just not using it wisely…
Chuq, I think we’d be better off with you at the head of the Defense Dept, rather than Ash.
Thanks for that…but I am no bureaucrat so I would be as popular as a rattlesnake in heat…LOL
Though I’m not as familiar with the detailed history of the entire world as I might be, I have studied the history of warfare, to some degree more than what is average. One of the earliest things I learned is that no nation, no army, nobody at all has EVER completely conquered Afghanistan, since the time of Genghis Khan, who worked around it rather than even bother with it. Every nation and army that has ever tried has eventually given up, & gone away, and the heroin has continued to flow across the mountain paths for all that time….
But it does make a great place to spend a whole lot of money trying…. somebody’s making the profit from it, and, gee, who might that be?
gigoid, the dubious
Knowledge is the best weapon….we went into a war for revenge with little fore-thought….let the opium poppies grow and make Pharma buy the by-product…..2 problems addressed…LOL Damn I need coffee….back later….chuq
Reading might be/is fundamental but war is not. It only exists to fuel an industry … that industry: WAR
But learning about war one can become better informed and then make better decisions…I agree the money is too good to stop voluntarily….
If war were truly effective then I believe the secret formula for applying it would already have been known centuries ago.
There is a plan…but it involves profit more than people…
Yup!