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http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=187657
Americans in Afghanistan
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Dr Farrukh Saleem
General McChrystal is the new commander of US forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal has served as director, Joint Staff and also as commander, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Major-General McChrystal ran Baghdads Camp Nama, the Nasty Ass Military Area, where prisoners were tortured to spill out beans on Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. JSOC forces were credited for capturing Saddam Hussein and McChrystal was later credited for the death of al-Zarqawi. The top US commander in Afghanistan was commissioned in the US army in 1976 and most of what McChrystal has done over the past 33 years remains classified. Newsweek called the JSOC as the most secretive force in the US military. And, Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist of The New Yorker, told Gulf News that Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing and the head of the wing has just been named as the new commander in Afghanistan. In an interview with Gulf News (May 12) Hersh said that there is a special unit called the JSOC that does high-value targeting of men that are known to be involved in anti-American activities, or are believed to be planning such activities.
Rewind back to December 24, 1979. The 40th army of the Red Army under the command of Marshall Sokolov invaded Afghanistan. Over the following nine years, 115,000 Red Army troops under General Varennikov and then under General Gromov plus 100,000 Afghan forces under General Dostum fought and fought hard to bring Afghanistan under control. The Red Army along with Soviet airborne forces, the KGB and GRU special operations forces undertook reconnaissance, asymmetric warfare, counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Yes, the Soviets fought a technology war. Yes, the Soviets were in control of major cities and major roads. But, close to 90 per cent of Afghanistan remained beyond anyones control.
Fast forward to February 15, 1989. The last Soviet soldier pulled out of Afghanistan and we discover that Brzezinski, Carters national security adviser, had told his president, The day the Soviets officially crossed the border we now have the opportunity of giving to the Soviet Union its Vietnam War. The Red Army later concluded that they had needed some 400,000 to 600,000 troops for Afghanistan.
Rewind back to October 7, 2001. Operation Enduring Freedom CIAs Special Activities Division, high-altitude bombers, carrier-based F/A-18 Hornet fighters, Apache helicopter gunships and cluster bombing campaigns. Over the following eight years, 58,000 US troops under General Franks, General Abizaid (Mad Arab), Admiral Fallon (Fox), General Dempsey, General Petraeus (King David), General McNeill (Bomber), General McKiernan and General McChrystal plus 90,000 Afghan forces under General Bismillah have been fighting and fighting hard to bring Afghanistan under control. Yes, the Americans are fighting a technology war. Yes, the Americans are in control of major cities and most major roads. But, close to 90 per cent of Afghanistan remains beyond anyones control.
General McKiernan reportedly asked for more troops. McKiernan was fired and then humiliated. General McChrystal claims he can do it with 58,000. The Taliban fighters are killing Americans no more. Now it is improvised explosive devices (IEDs) homemade bombs constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. In June, one of the bloodiest month on record, 38 ISAF and NATO soldiers died; 60 per cent from IEDs. Are we seeing the Korean War all over again?
General McChrystal has 75 days to prove that he can do it with 58,000 soldiers what the Red Army couldnt with 115,000 (every year fighting picks up pace in June, peaks in August and then tapers off by September).
On Tuesday, November 2, 2010, the US gubernatorial elections will be held in 37 states. The same day, American voters will elect 440 members of the 112th US Congress. The same day, American voters will elect 34 members of the US Senate. General McChrystal has 75 days to prove that he can do it because 2010 is election year and President Obama cannot continue fighting a losing war in an election year.
The writer is the executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Email: [email protected]
