Enough- [A Must Read on Our Success in Afghanistan]

[Mortar guy]

I've had enough. Consider this my rant against ignorance; my protest against agendas, half-truths, and lies. For almost two years I have been closely following the news from and about Afghanistan and it has been demoralizing to say the least. I spent a year in Kabul with the Strategic Advisory Team and watched the media only report the deaths our Forces suffered rather than the successes we (not just the SAT) achieved. I have watched "experts", editorialists, politicians, protesters, activists and pundits mangle facts, misread situations and push agendas. Most of what I have read and seen has been flawed to one degree or another. As a result many Canadians I have spoken to are wholly unaware of what we are doing there and why we are doing it. The debate has been so muddied by poor reporting and incomplete information that most people are stunned when they hear of our successes.

At the same time I have heard only reactive, ineffective whimpers from our establishment. Our government and DND in particular has done a poor job of getting the message out. Granted things are improving but you only have to look at the News Room on the DND website to see that the majority of news releases concerning Afghanistan concern the deaths and injuries we have suffered in Kandahar. In other words we are playing into the media's "if it bleeds, it leads" approach to coverage.

Here is my attempt to right some wrongs and dispel some of the misinformation out there:

1) "We cannot win in Afghanistan because insurgencies are impossible to win" I swear that if I hear one more "expert" or politician with no military experience say this I will reach through the TV and choke someone. I have spent the last three years of my life reading everything I can find on insurgencies as part of my work towards a Masters and I can tell you this - insurgencies can and have been defeated many times in the past. There are ways to defeat an insurgency and I can tell you from my study of this topic and my year of experience working at the strategic level in Afghanistan that we are doing far more right than we are wrong. Furthermore, the insurgency we face is hardly one of the most daunting ever faced. The Taliban are unlikely to ever get past Mao's first stage of insurgency and, more importantly, they lack support from much of the population. To reference Mao again, the Taliban are "fish" swimming in a very small "sea" as their support is mainly limited to one Pashtun tribe in an ethnically diverse country. NATO can defeat the Taliban and with every passing year, Kabul extends its influence and the lives of Afghans improve. This insurgency will be defeated by stability, prosperity and justice and we can see that all are improving gradually.

2) "No one has ever won in Afghanistan so we will never win" Not only does this statement display a gross ignorance of Afghan history, it also represents a laughable logical fallacy. It's akin to saying: "the Ottawa Senators didn't win the Cup last year, therefore no one will ever be able to win the Cup!" Comparing the conscript Soviet Army to ISAF defies comprehension - every conceivable aspect of the Soviet experience differs fundamentally from our experience there. Goals, tactics, training, equipment, popular support, international legitimacy are all vastly different, to name but a few.

3) Attention editors/politicians/protesters: Afghanistan is not Iraq! Rather than displaying your incredible ignorance of geography, history and international relations, how about you nail down this one fundamental difference? You can disagree with what's happening in Iraq while agreeing with our mission in Afghanistan and vice versa. But, you cannot use your opposition to Iraq as a basis for your opposition to Afghanistan - that's a non sequitur. Here's a little game you can play: read articles by columnists, in on-line forums or even in the "comments" section following on-line G&M articles and you'll see something very telling. Most people opposed to our mission in Afghanistan make reference to Iraq or George W. Bush at least once when explaining why they are opposed to Afghanistan. I don't get it. Are we really that mad with conspiracy theories that we think that our mission in Afghanistan is in some significant way related to US policy towards Iraq? A more likely explanation is that the crushing ignorance that drowns the debate on Afghanistan is the cause. People are too lazy and too poorly informed to understand the differences between Iraq and Afghanistan and those with agendas encourage this ignorance to reinforce their own arguments.

4) "All that's happening in Afghanistan is combat" Ruxted has countered this one in detail but no one seems to want to listen. What really riles me is that DND (or Foreign Affairs, or CIDA) is not just inundating the media with facts and stories about how this is simply not true. 83% of Afghans have access to medical care now where fewer than 9% did before 2001. GDP per capita has doubled and Afghanistan has the fastest growing economy in Asia. Etc., etc. These facts are all out there and available to editors and politicians and yet no one reports these facts. Why? Are they so intent on vilifying Harper that they can't report the facts? I just don't get it.

So what?

Please, all of you who know these facts and more - talk to people. Tell friends, family, strangers. Write letters to the editor if you can or write your MP to tell them you think these points need to be discussed. Ruxted and similar organizations are doing a great job but we all need to back them up and do our part. Consider it a grassroots effort to counter the one-sided stories in the media.

MG

Mod Edit: sorry MG, but this post is too good not to have the contents in the title.
Bruce

 

[geo]

+1 MG
you should rant more often

 

[Babbling Brooks]

Brilliant, Mortar guy.

And thanks for your service with SAT-A - not enough people know about the fantastic work that team does.

 

[GAP]

You have encapsulated the entire "Afghanistan story" frustration of the members on this site in one post.....thank you.

 

[mover1]

SEND IT TO AS MANY PAPERS AS POSSIBLE MG

 

[Haletown]

so for the $1 billion a year we the taxpayers provide,  the CBC does what to provide Canadians with balanced coverage  ????

 

[CF_Enthusiast]

Some other things I always hear are "We are only there for oil!" and "Opium is not that important to us!". If these half-assed arguments could be countered aswell then I think this would be great to send to newspapers and other media outlets.

 

[Good2Golf]

MG, bang on! 

That is exactly the line I take when the public asks my personal views on what we are achieving in Afghanistan.  People are amazed when provided with a dearth of quantifiable facts about the improvement of the situation in Afghanistan.  I fully agree with you that DND public affairs folks need to more actively shape what information they provide, rather than being content that mainstream media appears to be paying more attention to CF activities in general.  The amount of good, solid work being accomplished by the SAT, ANTC, PRT and CIMIC teams seemed all to often dwarfed under the media's thirst for all things "battle group." 

That said, one of the best pieces yet, and one that I point a lot of folks to is this story reported by CBC's Brian Stewart: Strategic Advisory Team - Afghanistan. 

Only then, do people realize the influence we as Canadians have in the entire nation-rebuilding process in Afghanistan.  For many, if not all, it comes as quite a surprise, and one that tends to give credence to our statements that it is a holistic approach to helping a nation not only rebuild itself, but further develop itself into a dynamic member of international society.  Canadians should be justifiably proud of all members of the CF, and indeed other Canadian governmental and non-governmental agencies alike, as they help Afghans work towards improving their quality of life.

Cheers
G2G

 

[Bane]

Bravo!
MG, follow mover1's suggestion and fire that off to as many papers as you can.

 

[Gimpy]

1) "We cannot win in Afghanistan because insurgencies are impossible to win" I swear that if I hear one more "expert" or politician with no military experience say this I will reach through the TV and choke someone. I have spent the last three years of my life reading everything I can find on insurgencies as part of my work towards a Masters and I can tell you this - insurgencies can and have been defeated many times in the past. There are ways to defeat an insurgency and I can tell you from my study of this topic and my year of experience working at the strategic level in Afghanistan that we are doing far more right than we are wrong. Furthermore, the insurgency we face is hardly one of the most daunting ever faced. The Taliban are unlikely to ever get past Mao's first stage of insurgency and, more importantly, they lack support from much of the population. To reference Mao again, the Taliban are "fish" swimming in a very small "sea" as their support is mainly limited to one Pashtun tribe in an ethnically diverse country. NATO can defeat the Taliban and with every passing year, Kabul extends its influence and the lives of Afghans improve. This insurgency will be defeated by stability, prosperity and justice and we can see that all are improving gradually.

Since you have been doing a lot of research on this topic I was wondering if you could expand on the bolded point and possibly post some links or a bibliography of the materials you've read on the issue. I'm quite interested in this topic as well and any reading material on it would be much appreciated.

As for the rest its very well written but for the first and second points you don't really back it up with any solid examples on the topics. In the first topic you state that insurgencies have been defeated in the past, but you don't give any examples of it. Also, in the second topic you state that its a showing of ignorance of Afghan history to say that no one has ever won a war in Afghanistan, but again you don't give any points to back that up. I'm not slagging your piece, I think its very well done, but if you want a majority of people to really get it and understand it you need to provide solid examples that people can simply type into google or wikipedia and get a good bit of history on the topic.

 

[Wootan 9]

Mortar Guy...Excellent post!  As you know, I've been trying to get the message out, but it's an uphill battle with most of the media.  Our Government has done a terrible job communicating the strategic vision for this mission - adding to the frustration level beyond the point of tolerance.  In the aftermath of recent casualties the "new" Ministers have limited their statements to condolances and have left the field to the "commentators."  Problem is that some of the commentators are so ill-informed, so out of it (if they were ever in it) and have never even been to Afghanistan.  Even though CBC knows where I am and how to contact me, it's obviously easier to go the commentator who is both "in town" and can be counted upon to be critical of the mission.  One former Colonel (Retired since the early 90s/Log Branch/former DG Exec Sec!) has, in the past two days been called upon to comment on Taliban tactics and Snowbird seatbelts - amazing!

Anyway, great post - put it on every website that you can find.

MC

 

[vonGarvin]

Outstanding piece, and sums up exactly my frustrations.  Well said.

 

[kratz]

+1 MG

The DS was correct is stating your post was well worth the read.

 

[Scotty Hortonville]

MG -

That was one Hell of a post. Thank you. 

Scotty

 

[vonGarvin]

MORTAR GUY
If you want to keep your fist from being damaged by a TV tube, do NOT watch NewsNet right now
(Scott Taylor is on there now telling how to avoid IEDs)  :
EDIT: He's done.  Don't worry, I missed what he was saying!  (well, just heard "blah blah" IED.....blah blah...."insurgency"...)

 

[Bane]

Gimpy, you have some good suggestions as to some evidence that could be included to add some weight to piece. If it is to be submitted to a paper, however, brevity is very important.

However if you wish to study more on insurgencies and the history of Afghan invasions, here is some stuff to get you started. Also, fill out your profile please.

Insurgencies that have been defeated:
First any of the big empires Roman, Mongol, Ottoman and Macedonian-Hellenic(Alexander, Athens etc.) all had success at quelling insurgencies
The Viet Cong - deafeted shortly before the U.S. pulled out.
Or, could take a map of Central/South America (or Africa) and pretty much pick any country and you'll find evidence of some kind of insurgency in the last 200 years. Some successful (ex. Mau Mau in Tanganyika), some not so much (El Salvador -80's, Peru more recently)
Also the Malaysian Emergency from the late 40's to the end of the 50's.
Phillipines in the 50's too.


A great article on recent Afghan invasions, successful ones and otherwise.
http://www.jmss.org/2006/2006fall/index2.htm

 

[Shepp]

I am a civilian writing my first post on Army.ca. I am 36, Anglophone, and an Infantry applicant awaiting a merit listing.
When Canada went to Afghanistan, and friends and family members who were serving in the CF volunteered to serve there, I understood the reasons why. This summer, I decided to become one of them, and when my time comes to wear a uniform, I will do so honourably, and earn the right to have the opinions that I do. This forum, and its links to Ruxted, Milnews and others have opened my eyes considerably to the merits of this one mission, as did my best friend, a Crazy 8 who returned from Operation Medusa with shrapnel in his body from an American Thunderbolt. There are enemies in this world who need to be fought, and places where those enemies cannot be allowed to flourish, and if a Canadian soldier is sent to one of these places, I know that the enemy will lose, countless wrongs will be corrected, children will have new shoes on their feet, meals to eat, clean water to drink and medicines to preserve their lives. Sometimes tragic mistakes are made, but men and women of honour make amends, as the CF does. It is enough for me that my country says to me, " we are doing our best, and we are doing what's right, let us show you how....".
There are those who don't believe in conflict of any kind, for any reason, and they will never support a military operation anywhere, and showing  the contributions of military operations in Afghanistan are unfathomable to them. Personally, I have always felt that this aversion to aggression was something that our blessed way of life in Canada encouraged. Generations of people have grown up here insulated from war; buses, cafes and markets don't explode in a homicidal fever here, and though we can read about the conflicts in Israel, Lebanon, Beirut, South America and the Middle East, we really don't understand the "Us Vs. Them" mentality that, say, a Hezbollah guerrilla feels. Twenty years ago, I called that being "feminized", that Canadians were growing up soft, too eager to accommodate and open the front door to every passing stranger. I've changed my tone somewhat over the decades, but I don't think much has changed within the general populace.
Should our involvement in Afghanistan be concluded when I am qualified to serve in a forward operations function, I have little doubt that there will be another place in the world where, if Canadian troops are stationed there, good people will benefit from it. I hope that such a place won't be on Canadian soil, but I expect that it may be sometime in the future. It seems to me that the world is running out of resources. I don't know how much food, water, energy and oil countries like, say, China and Pakistan need over the next twenty years, but it doesn't escape me that Canada has an abundance of those resources, and the unwillingness of our people to fight for anything is a bit disheartening when confronted by the  hungry, thirsty and desperate of the developing world who are lustily eyeing it.

 

[Mortar guy]

Since you have been doing a lot of research on this topic I was wondering if you could expand on the bolded point and possibly post some links or a bibliography of the materials you've read on the issue. I'm quite interested in this topic as well and any reading material on it would be much appreciated.

As for the rest its very well written but for the first and second points you don't really back it up with any solid examples on the topics. In the first topic you state that insurgencies have been defeated in the past, but you don't give any examples of it. Also, in the second topic you state that its a showing of ignorance of Afghan history to say that no one has ever won a war in Afghanistan, but again you don't give any points to back that up. I'm not slagging your piece, I think its very well done, but if you want a majority of people to really get it and understand it you need to provide solid examples that people can simply type into google or wikipedia and get a good bit of history on the topic.

Gimpy,

I wrote this in a hurry and didn't want to get into a bibliography but you raise a good point. Here is a quick list of insurgencies that have been defeated:

Malayan Emergency - 1948-1960
Hukbalahap Insurgency (Philippines) 1946-1955
Mau Mau Revolt (Kenya) 1952-1955
Nothern Ireland 1969-2006
Bolivia 1967
Greece 1945-1949

And so on. A couple of good starter books are: War of the Flea by Robert Taber; From the Barrel of a Gun by John Ellis; and Modern Insurgencies and Counterinsurgencies by Ian Beckett.

Afghanistan has been occupied and ruled by various external entinities throughout it's history. In fact, counter to the perception that it is a country that has always resisted foreign occupation, they have been rolled over a few times. Starting with the Macedonians (Alexander the Great) and continuing with the Persians, Arabs, Mongols, Moghuls and even the British, the Afghans have had their share of "guests". I know that the popular understanding is that the Brits lost Afghanistan but in fact, by the Second Afghan War, they had achieved their only real goal for that country. They had established a compliant regime in Kabul and had control over Afghan foreign relations.


A good book on all this is Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban by Stephen Tanner.

Anyway, you're welcome for doing all your research for you!

Wootan-9 (sir) - I know you, Col Noonan and even our friend Albert have been spreading the message far and wide but for whatever reason, the MSM takes absolutely no interest in what you have to say. Maybe it is pure laziness on their part or maybe its because there is a belief that this war is unwinnable so they are uninterested in any information to the contrary.

MG

 

[GK .Dundas]

MORTAR GUY
If you want to keep your fist from being damaged by a TV tube, do NOT watch NewsNet right now
(Scott Taylor is on there now telling how to avoid IEDs)   :
EDIT: He's done.  Don't worry, I missed what he was saying!  (well, just heard "blah blah" IED.....blah blah...."insurgency"...)

you just missed his advice ...it's possible you just may saved your own life!

 

[Mortar guy]

And people wonder why I don't own a TV!

MG