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More Troops for Afghanistan? Faster Withdrawal from Iraq? - Shadowproof

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CommunityFDL Main BlogMcChrystal is probably going to ask for more troops for Afghanistan. Gates floats the idea of bringing a third combat brigade out of Iraq before the year ends.I’ve had some questions about the capacity of the U.S. and its partners to hold what, say, the Marines clear in Helmand, as a microcosm for the country. In an interview with Judah Grunstein of World Politics Review, Andrew "Abu Muqawama" Exum, just back from advising McChrystal’s strategy review, takes the question on.In the "Clear, Hold and Build" paradigm of counterinsurgency, it’s obvious that the U.S. military is going to be able to "clear" just about anywhere it decides to. Does Gen. McChrystal have adequate resources to "hold"?Andrew Exum: I think you’ve got two problems there. One is a conceptual problem and one is a resource problem. Nowhere that I went was I able to get a really coherent definition of what it means to hold and what it means to build, and how you do that. And I don’t think we’ve cracked the nut operationally on how we do those things. So first off, I think there’s some confusion as far as what that means. Second off, without question, we do not have the resources to hold much terrain in Afghanistan. We’ve got very limited international forces in Afghanistan, and we’re actually not using them to their best effect if we’ve got them "holding." So if the Marines in Helmand are holding terrain right now, that’s a waste of resources. The "hold" function should be executed by a robust Afghan national security force. But right now, one of the things that is a constant problem is that we’ve got an Afghan National Army that is decent, that still needs a lot of work and that needs to be rapidly expanded. And we have an Afghan National Police that is good in some component parts, but overall has been a disaster. So we need more of the Afghan National Police, but we need them also to be responsible and good, and not take advantage of the local population. So no, we don’t have enough resources to hold a lot of the ground that we clear. And I think those resources are only going to come when we’re able to increase the rate at which we’re training and equipping the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police.I’m not hearing a lot of "hard-but-not-hopeless" in there, though I know Ex believes that. That just sounds pretty bleak. We don’t know what it means to hold?Update: Josh Foust is not happy.attackermanCommunityMcChrystal is probably going to ask for more troops for Afghanistan. Gates floats the idea of bringing a third combat brigade out of Iraq before the year ends.I’ve had some questions about the capacity of the U.S. and its partners to hold what, say, the Marines clear in Helmand, as a microcosm for the country. In an interview with Judah Grunstein of World Politics Review, Andrew "Abu Muqawama" Exum, just back from advising McChrystal’s strategy review, takes the question on.In the "Clear, Hold and Build" paradigm of counterinsurgency, it’s obvious that the U.S. military is going to be able to "clear" just about anywhere it decides to. Does Gen. McChrystal have adequate resources to "hold"?Andrew Exum: I think you’ve got two problems there. One is a conceptual problem and one is a resource problem. Nowhere that I went was I able to get a really coherent definition of what it means to hold and what it means to build, and how you do that. And I don’t think we’ve cracked the nut operationally on how we do those things. So first off, I think there’s some confusion as far as what that means. Second off, without question, we do not have the resources to hold much terrain in Afghanistan. We’ve got very limited international forces in Afghanistan, and we’re actually not using them to their best effect if we’ve got them "holding." So if the Marines in Helmand are holding terrain right now, that’s a waste of resources. The "hold" function should be executed by a robust Afghan national security force. But right now, one of the things that is a constant problem is that we’ve got an Afghan National Army that is decent, that still needs a lot of work and that needs to be rapidly expanded. And we have an Afghan National Police that is good in some component parts, but overall has been a disaster. So we need more of the Afghan National Police, but we need them also to be responsible and good, and not take advantage of the local population. So no, we don’t have enough resources to hold a lot of the ground that we clear. And I think those resources are only going to come when we’re able to increase the rate at which we’re training and equipping the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. &nbsp;I’m not hearing a lot of "hard-but-not-hopeless" in there, though I know Ex believes that. That just sounds pretty bleak. We don’t know what it means to hold?Update: Josh Foust is not happy.&nbsp;Shadowproof is an independent publication funded by donations from readers like you. If you like our work, pay it forward by donating or subscribing today.DonateShadowproof is 100% funded by readers like youDonate NowThis is default text for notification barLearn moreSkip to content

CommunityFDL Main BlogMcChrystal is probably going to ask for more troops for Afghanistan. Gates floats the idea of bringing a third combat brigade out of Iraq before the year ends.I’ve had some questions about the capacity of the U.S. and its partners to hold what, say, the Marines clear in Helmand, as a microcosm for the country. In an interview with Judah Grunstein of World Politics Review, Andrew "Abu Muqawama" Exum, just back from advising McChrystal’s strategy review, takes the question on.In the "Clear, Hold and Build" paradigm of counterinsurgency, it’s obvious that the U.S....

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More Troops for Afghanistan? Faster Withdrawal from Iraq? - Shadowproof

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