Afghanistan and Iraq
Good AP article by Jim Krane that discusses the adoption by the Afghan resistance of the Iraqi insurgents' tactics.
There's not a really clear, short excerpt, but it's a solid article.
The prospect of a second downward spiral — though so far Afghanistan isn't nearly as violent as Iraq — has experts worried that Western militaries don't have an effective strategy for these irregular wars.....
The reborn Taliban acknowledges that it has adopted the suicide bombings, beheadings and remote-controlled bombs of the Iraqi insurgent movement....
he West's military strategy in Afghanistan also resembles that in Iraq.
There's not a really clear, short excerpt, but it's a solid article.
posted by mikevotes at
7:04 AM
2 Comments:
It does seem a huge problem how to respond. Whether you can respond except by mass slaughter or a proppaganda effort. Strikes me we need better ability to control the discussion and spread our message better. Strikes me that the error lies as much in public diplomacy failing across the Muslim world.
By
Gracchi, at 12:37 PM
Completely.
Since the modern prevalence of communications equipment, cheap small arms and explosives, insurgencies have become far more difficult.
On a broader level, the question is how can you control the message if you're not willing to give up points?
For instance, The US is not going to leave the middle east for oil reasons. How do you shape that message so that it is not seen as foreign imposition and exploitation?
The US will not allow democracy in Saudi.
I think you're absolutely right that the only way to end this is to shift the perception, but how do you do that if you're unwilling to abandon the policies that cause that perception?
I don't know.
The best guess I would have is to somehow create another enemy of the people and defeat it.
As example, if a "terror group" began massively bombing all the arab capitols and the US was responsible for ending that threat.
I don't think you can conduct that operation, but it would make US presence far more welcomed by the moderates.
Good comment, you've got me thinking out loud.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 1:26 PM
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