Pentagon leaders yesterday signalled a surge in US forces in Afghanistan "sooner rather than later", a shift that could send some units there within weeks, as officials prepared to cut troop levels in Iraq. Faced with an increasingly sophisticated insurgency, particularly along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that sending more troops would have a significant impact on the violence. "I think that we are clearly working very hard to see if there are opportunities to send additional forces sooner rather than later," Mr Gates told Pentagon reporters. But, he added, no final decisions or recommendations had been made. His comments suggested an acceleration in what had been plans to shift forces there early next year and followed undertakings this week by both Republican presidential nominee John McCain and his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan.Pakistan Must Do More to Police Tribal Zone - Jim Garamone, AFPS
Pakistan must do more on its side of the border with Afghanistan to combat terrorist extremists, US defense leaders said here today. "We're seeing a greater number of insurgents and foreign fighters flowing across the border with Pakistan, unmolested and unhindered,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a news conference. “This movement needs to stop.” Mullen, who recently returned from a trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said all involved with operations on the border must do a better job of policing the region and eliminating the extremists’ safe havens in Pakistan’s federally administered tribal areas that are launching pads for attacks on coalition forces. The most recent example was an attack on a coalition and Afghan military outpost in Wanat, in which nine soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team were killed.Al-Qaida Draws More Foreign Recruits to Afghan War - Associated Press
Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign that al-Qaida is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terror groups. More foreigners are infiltrating Afghanistan because of a recruitment drive by al-Qaida as well as a burgeoning insurgency that has made movement easier across the border from Pakistan, US officials, militants and experts say. For the past two months, Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq in deaths of U.S. and allied troops, and nine American soldiers were killed at a remote base in Kunar province Sunday in the deadliest attack in years. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned during a visit to Kabul this month about an increase in foreign fighters crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, where a new government is trying to negotiate with militants.Officials Seek More MRAPs for Afghanistan - Jim Garamone, AFPS
Commanders in Afghanistan have asked for more of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles the military calls “MRAPs,” the Pentagon’s press secretary said today. There are roughly 800 MRAPs in Afghanistan. “It’s safe to say that commanders are interested” in more of the vehicles, Geoff Morrell told reporters. Though the request is unofficial so far, it was relayed by Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commander of Combined Task Force 101 at Bagram Airfield to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen during the chairman’s recent visit to Afghanistan. Part of the request may be tied to the normal planning that always goes on, another senior Pentagon spokesman said. If the number of U.S. troops goes up in Afghanistan – which President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would like to see happen – then the number of MRAPs in the country will have to grow also, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman explained.Afghan Militants Killed in Airstrikes - Carlotta Gall, New York Times
American and Afghan special forces killed two influential tribal leaders and a number of their followers in western Afghanistan in a joint airborne operation Wednesday night amid more accusations of causing civilian casualties, military officials said Thursday. Both NATO and the Afghan Ministry of Defense declared the tribal leaders were high-priority Taliban targets and the operation against them successful. There was no evidence of civilian casualties, a statement issued by the NATO press office in Kabul said.The Calm Before the Strategic Storm - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
As folks disconnected from the Army, well read in military history and military strategy, and always willing to take a back seat to more knowledgeable people on the subject, Afghanistan represents theater and study for us, but rarely something we analyze here on the blog. We do not claim to be experts, rather admirers of the experts and the analysis they give. With the exception of closely observing the 24th MEU, we have not spent much time discussing Afghanistan in the context of the materials usually discussed on the blog, but tonight our thoughts shift towards this theater of war. The 24th MEU, that single Marine battalion "surged" to Afghanistan has had excellent success on the battlefield in Helmand Province, but the capitalization of the gains made has been less than originally hoped for. The British Provincial Reconstruction Team's are struggling to overcome the challenges of the theater, and while both the Marines and the British do not lose battles, they are losing the war. The security situation, or lack of sustained security in Helmand Province, contributes to the problem. Helmand is one region with a unique set of challenges, in a theater of war with many regions each with many challenges all their own. The challenges are immense, complex, and still not fully understood. In Helmand Province, the Taliban was able to provide more power to the population than the British have been able to. If that remains constant in the future, we will not win Helmand Province. The current strategy is not working, and the reasons are many. NATO as a unified force is not living up to expectations, and something have to change.US to Reinforce a Bad Strategy in Afghanistan - Westhawk, Westhawk
There is little doubt now that the US will soon begin a significant transfer of military resources from Iraq to Afghanistan. Remarks this week from senior Pentagon leaders indicate that by September, the US command in Iraq will announce the withdrawal of more brigade combat teams from that theater. Meanwhile, the US government has already announced its intention to add in 2009 up to three brigades to the Afghan theater. The hope is that reinforcements to Afghanistan, paid for by withdrawals from Iraq, will be enough to ward off another summer of deterioration in Afghanistan’s security. Unfortunately, Afghanistan needs more than simply more American soldiers in 2009. Without fundamental changes inside Pakistan, eastern and southern Afghanistan will always be under siege.Troop Surge for Afghanistan? - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal
Similar to the opposition to the surge in Iraq, the chorus of voices calling for a military stand-down in Afghanistan are growing. There is the classical “we can’t win” approach, analogous to the “insurgencies cannot be beaten” meme (regardless of the fact that the insurgency has essentially been beaten in Iraq). Then there is the “we must educate the extremists out of there extremism” approach. In this version of the problem, the root of the extremism becomes disenfranchisement, poverty, and valid grievances which require redress (regardless of the example of Bangladesh, which is 90% Muslim and one of the poorest nations on earth, but without the violent extremism). There are other stupid arguments for a draw-down of troops (or leaving a very small military footprint) over which we won’t waste our time.Afghanistan: Not Enough Troops - David Wood, Military Watch
Tragically, that's the lesson of the battle Sunday during which insurgents overran a joint US-Afghan base and killed nine Americans, among others. US troops are spread out thinly across eastern Afghanistan, in accordance with the counterinsurgency doctrine espoused by Gen. David Petraeus, the current U.S. commander in Iraq who will become chief of all U.S. forces in the region this fall. That approach, along with other factors, has helped quell the violence in Iraq. But it is risky, as the attack on Sunday shows. And it requires many, many more boots on the ground.Securing Pakistan’s Tribal Belt - Will Hartley, Insurgency Research Group
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has released a special report written by Daniel Markey - CFR’s senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia - entitled Securing Pakistan’s Tribal Belt [PDF].Studying Soviets Won’t Ensure Success - Westhawk, Westhawk
Is it a sign of despair if NATO leaders are again re-reading histories of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan? If NATO and American politicians and field commanders are despairing, it would be hard to blame them. Nearly seven years have elapsed since the start of Afghanistan’s latest war yet no one seriously foresees any significant reduction in seasonal violence after another seven years of campaigning. Even more haunting are some of the similarities between the Soviet experience and the current NATO-American effort. These apparent similarities were enough to cause the Canadian government to commission a formal study of the Soviet campaign in order to avoid a repetition of their errors.Force Consolidation Offensive or Defensive? - Steve Schippert, Threats Watch
Following the Taliban-al-Qaeda overrunning of a US FOB in Wanat (now abandoned), one of the latest in a significant increase in Taliban-al-Qaeda attacks, US forces returned fire on the Taliban inside Pakistan in response to another recent shelling. Also being reported is a buildup of US forces along the Pakistani border. The question is one of intent. Pakistanis suggest that the US is preparing for an ground incursion.Pakistani Army Launches Operation - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
The Pakistani Army has launched a military operation against the Taliban in the settled district of Hangu in the Northwest Frontier Province. The military took over security in Hangu from the Frontier Corps on July 16 after imposing a curfew and warning the residents to leave the area and not to shelter the Taliban. "People who fail to move to relief camps will be considered to be anti-government," a pamphlet distributed by the district administration warned.Decapitation Campaign - Matt Dupee, The Long War Journal
Recent insurgent activity, including several spectacular al Qaeda styled terrorist attacks, has thrust Afghanistan into a quandary unseen since the US-led Coalition invaded the country seven years ago. Attacks are up throughout the country, including the once secure capital of Kabul, as NATO led forces attempt to thwart further insurgent gains on a multitude of fronts. Coalition forces have surged into three separate areas on the volatile border with Pakistan’s Taliban infested tribal states bringing regional tensions with Afghanistan’s neighbors at an all time high. Meanwhile, US, Canadian and British troops have unleashed a salvo of decapitation strikes against the Taliban’s southern zone leadership elements, eliminating several senior Taliban commanders in Helmand, Herat and Kandahar provinces.