The new administration has kept its promise to bolster the troop level in Afghanistan. The new 17,000 troops will consists of 8,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C., and 4000 Soldiers from the Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, WA, and remaining 5000 from several National Guard Units who are to be called upon at a later date.
We all know that this is just the beginning. In the end, the troop level can be as high as 50,000 or more, the tour may last over a year, and our mission may not be completed in the next five years.
Most active members of the military top brass try not to disagree with the administration, especially after having served the country for 20, 30 or even 40 years of their lives. They try to fade away like old soldiers without any incident and keep their pensions and ranks intact. However, their reluctance to speak out will result in more casualties among the young soldiers and Marines.
I believe in strong military action, and I also believe in preemptive strikes where it is necessary. However, I also believe that it is critical to use diplomatic strategies where it is called for so that we can best utilize our military resources.
For the past 60 years, US foreign policy has been dictated by our love and trust for other so-called democracies. However, this approach has in fact been blind, occasionally deaf, and frequently ignorant.
Just because a nation holds frequent and somewhat fair elections does not make it our friend, ally or blood relative. There are fundamental ideological difference between our way of life and that of the people in many other nations. The United States was founded on a Judeo Christian principal and has encouraged a policy of free trade, capitalism which has in turn not only created individual wealth but also protected individual’s rights to accumulate and secure wealth, which consequently has created prosperity for our people and inevitably brought upon ourselves the envy of other countries. As reality being such, in order for The United States to continue to be the Shining City of Gold that spreads the light of civilization to dark corners of the world, our foreign policy should focus primarily on assessing and defending our geopolitical and business interest and not holding hands and dancing around with other nations simply because they claim to be democracies.
Afghanistan and Indian subcontinent has been a hot bed of terrorism, conflicts, social discourse and human suffering, which has been complicated by a few dozen nuclear bombs and a few thousand US and NATO soldiers. Recently Pakistan made peace with the Taliban in SWAT Valley Region. This incident certainly stole the headlines, yet no one seemed to understand why and what was behind it and what should be our reaction.
In the past 60 years the disputed borders between India and Pakistan in the region of Kashmir have caused enormous headache for the diplomatic and intelligence community, which is therefore worth our close examination. Kashmir is a predominantly Muslim province occupied by Hindu India, and the majority of the people have been continuously suffering from the military skirmishes in this region for the past 60 years. As the humanitarian crises continue in this region, militant groups like Laskar-e -Taiba and other groups backed by Pakistanis tend to provide people in that region with humanitarian aid as well as recruit operatives among the people who accepted the aid.
Meanwhile, the disproportionate military might India posses in that region has caused alarm not only among the Pakistani military and intelligence community but also among civilian populations. In fact majority of the moderate, westernized Pakistanis are afraid of Indian invasion or at least limited nuclear strikes into Pakistani territories. Since Pakistan is a bankrupt nation and lacks the ability to arm their conventional forces, in order for them to defend themselves, they will have to try to over-compensate their elite commando units such as SSGs. In addition, most of the Taliban operatives are well trained by various terrorists who, prior to their affiliation to terrorist groups, have served in the Special Forces in Chechnya, Egypt, Jordon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and even places like Myanmar and therefore, they could provide the Pakistani commandoes with training and techniques to fight larger conventional forces from India. In fact most Pakistani Army Units have trained with the Taliban prior to their deployment in Kashmir Valley.
Accordingly, our strategy should be to help Pakistan disengage from India and redeploy their forces in the Waziristan Area so that none of the terrorists from Afghanistan can slip out nor any of the resupply from Pakistan can come into Afghanistan.
The ideal way to do that is to call in UN observers in the Kashmir region and call for UN resolution to make the Kashmir region a military-free zone patrolled by the UN forces. As the UN lacks combat capabilities, they would be ideal as self-proclaimed civil nation like India will not preemptively engage UN forces in combat. This will force the Pakistanis to disengage and will bring ease to the general population who in turn, can be used by us to persuade their government to truly be an active participant in our war against terror.
It is also a stark fact that, no matter how many or for how long our troops are deployed in Afghanistan; we will never win against the ideology of the people. For the past 2000 years people in Afghanistan have lived in a tribal society, and unfortunately, they will not change in any time soon. Therefore, our manpower and resources cannot go on indefinitely, and along with our military strategies we need a political and diplomatic solution. Until we disengage India from their overtly aggressive policies we will not solve the regional crisis there.
We also need to keep in mind that throughout the 1980’s, it was Pakistan who stood by us against the Soviet Union, or today we would be begging for oil in Soviet controlled Karachi and the Middle East.
In conclusion, we need to keep in mind a small political move can pay enormous dividend for us and save many lives.