The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on April 15, 2019, 09:54:15 am
-
LEARNING PAINFUL LESSONS FROM AFGHANISTAN
By Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv March 15, 2019
Conflicts, both in Afghanistan as well as at home, will continue to have both a complex civilian and military character
When the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) finally closed shop in Afghanistan in 2014, many participating nations professed a weariness with complex, civil-military, out-of-area operations. These operations demanded close, often awkward, relationships of cooperation, co-existence, and confrontation between different civil and military actors, including local civilians. Amid the withdrawal, many militaries and their defense departments seemed to express a collective sigh of relief, talking about a ‘return’ to strictly military priorities and operations. The focus shifted to ‘near area’ operations and security concerns at home. However two related problems remain:
It is very difficult to claim Afghanistan can be characterized as a success story as a functioning state for and with its people. Given the enormous effort, the outcome is nothing short of a disaster. We need more self-reflection as to why that is.
The civilian role in conflict is still sorely neglected – a perilous oversight for both understanding what happened in past operations but also for future conflict scenarios. There is a lot to learn from the civil-military relationships in Afghanistan.
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/painful-lessons-afghanistan/
-
LEARNING PAINFUL LESSONS FROM AFGHANISTAN
By Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv March 15, 2019
It is very difficult to claim Afghanistan can be characterized as a success story as a functioning state for and with its people. Given the enormous effort, the outcome is nothing short of a disaster. We need more self-reflection as to why that is.
@rangerrebew
"Why that is" is because you can't teach a people unwilling or incapable of learning.
Yes,it really IS "that" simple.
-
@rangerrebew
"Why that is" is because you can't teach a people unwilling or incapable of learning.
Yes,it really IS "that" simple.
---------------------------------
Indeed it is, yet we have far to many bureaucrats in uniform
squatting in the Pentagon needy of a mission like Afghanistan.
Perhaps they could organize a search mission for a clone of
Alexander the Great, who after crushing Darius at Gaugamela,
did likewise to the Afgans of Bactria and it hardly took him decades.
-
"It is very difficult to claim Afghanistan can be characterized as a success story as a functioning state for and with its people. Given the enormous effort, the outcome is nothing short of a disaster. We need more self-reflection as to why that is."
Forget it, Jake... it's muzzietown.
(If the soviets couldn't pacify the place after years of trying, we certainly aren't going to...)