More troops needed in Afghanistan

NY Times:

American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.

The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies.

The possibility that more troops will be needed in Afghanistan presents the Obama administration with another problem in dealing with a nearly eight-year war that has lost popularity at home, compounded by new questions over the credibility of the Afghan government, which has just held an as-yet inconclusive presidential election beset by complaints of fraud.

The assessments come as the top American commander in the country, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been working to complete a major war strategy review, and as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, described a worsening situation in Afghanistan despite the recent addition of 17,000 American troops ordered by the Obama administration and the extra security efforts surrounding the presidential election.

“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Mullen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.” He added that General McChrystal was still completing his review and had not yet requested additional troops on top of the those added by Mr. Obama.

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Those who recall the surge in Iraq will remember that the influx of troops corresponded with an increased tempo by both the enemy and our forces. To some extent that is happening in Afghanistan, but it is not having the same increase of local forces that the Iraqis contributed through their army and the Sons of Iraq programs.

There is also the problem that Obama failed to increase forces enough to begin with. I have often spoken of the importance of having an adequate force to space ratio. For a counterinsurgency operation to be successful this is the most important factor followed by protection of the people and cutting off the enemy's movement to contact. Without the troops are in a whack-o-mole mode.

Mullin is misleading in his statement suggesting the situation is deteriorating. The Taliban are still a force of cockroaches who do not have the capacity to challenge US troops although they do have teh ability to make a mess from time to time. They spend much of their time hiding from our troops and attempting to plant booby traps. By not sending enough troops, Obama has aided their ability to do this. With more troops it would be easier to set up check points and cut off the enemy's ability to move around.

Another deficiency in our effort is in the failure to mount a better campaign in the media battle space. Most of the Taliban tricks are pretty obvious now, but we have failed to call them on it and media is not going to do that for us.