Pentagon Wants More Troops in Afghanistan

“A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces,” Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

And on page 8 of the same issue, Siobhan Gorman has a small story headlined “Top U.S. Spy Offers Changes in Strategy.” The story concerns Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, and the release of “his first blueprint for U.S. intelligence.” Gorman reports:

“U.S. spy agencies are hunting al Qaeda and related groups more effectively because their understanding of Islamic extremists has improved significantly in recent years.”

What is the connection between these two stories? The nonfiction book “First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan” by
Gary Schroen, a CIA official who led the first U.S. team into Afghanistan only days after 9/11 in order to establish contact with the Northern Alliance, who were then trying to regain control of Afghanistan from the Taliban.

Now it’s true that Schroen’s book was published in 2007 after the Taliban had been banished and before the resurgence now. Yet he warns the American public of the future if we don’t understand some very important lessons for any U.S. policymakers hoping to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

For example, Schroen talks about how one of the most important lessons that we Americans must understand is how the Afghan people – whose loyalties are based on tribal allegiances – feel about leaders and their troops changing sides in the middle of a conflict. Suffice it to say that it is not a widely held American viewpoint.

Let us hope that the intelligence information that Dennis Blair has access to is shared with the Pentagon planners in order to provide a clear understanding of the cultural as well as military forces in Afghanistan before we send more American troops there.

Oh, yes, it also might be a good idea for the Pentagon planners to view the newly released movie “The Hurt Locker” which, while it takes place in Iraq, clearly portrays the cultural forces with which American troops must contend.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
www.MrsLieutenant.blogspot.com