After reading the latest posts perhaps it would be helpful to introduce an idea called interestingly coin theory. This is not a theory on what size the quarter should be but rather a military idea that is an acronym for counter insurgency theory. The ideas that whirl around this can be succinctly explored in a post from SWJ which is linked on this blog. For a full url, http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2009/09/a-few-random-thoughts-on-coin/
The point of this idea is trying to clearly define the objective of the mission before you begin and to fully recognize the idea that when America is operating in a sovereign country the responsibility for the counter insurgency would seem to lie with the host country. Operationally as we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan this can be difficult to say the least. President Obama and his many qualified advisers are wrestling with the difficult life changing decisions regarding increasing American troop number in Afghanistan.
The reason to discuss this on the blog is to give us all pause and to consider the concluding "random thought " by the author of the previously recommended blog,
Can there be victory in the conventional sense in COIN? Or is it more along these lines: “Someday, if you are successful, the mission will disappear, like a river flowing into a swamp.”
Which leads me to my final random thought: If you have to win a fight you send the Army and the Marines. If you have to help someone else win a fight without taking over the fight (and if it is going to take 10 or more years to reach a satisfactory conclusion), then perhaps another type of force is needed.
Colonel David S. Maxwell, U.S. Army, is a Special Forces officer with command and staff assignments in Korea, Japan, Germany, the Philippines, and CONUS, and is a graduate of the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth and the National War College, National Defense University. The opinions he expresses in this paper are his own and represent no U.S. Government or Department of Defense positions.
I think that a clearly defined mission is essential to any action. The author of the article also mentioned that we have moved past the "containment" theory of past years, and rightly so, in my opinion. It certainly did not work in Vietnam. Afghanistan was not able to defeat the Taliban itself, and thousands of people died in a direct attack on the U.S. Something had to be done. However, the author had a valid point in that Afghanistan is not under the direct control of the U.S. It is important that Afghanistan build its own military and be able to stablize its country.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I found the post and article to be very intriguing!
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