NATO has been making much of the planned invasion of Kandahar, but the June offensive, promised since March, never happened. Still, according to Major General Nick Carter, the offensive is still in the offing.
““You need to dominate the population,” Carter added, “in order to achieve the solution.” Still some nine years into the war the ability of NATO to ‘dominate’ Kandahar remains very much in doubt, and most of the population is none too happy with either the Taliban or the international occupation force.
Which is why officials kept delaying the Kandahar offensive, as many feared that without at least some public support it would be doomed to failure. They have instead been contented with smaller operations in the region, seizing small villages where they can and promising a major “progress” somewhere in the future.
Dominate the population, what a warrior-like concept. While they won't be pillaging their goods or ravishing their women ISAF is getting ready to do what armies have done from time immemorial, punish a whole bunch of civilians to 'get at' an estimated 1000 insurgents.
The result? Same as always – a surfeit of innocent Afghans dead, locked up for a year or two, the village school turned into a blockhouse for the ISAF garrison, or police post. And then the hunt and peck, whack-a-mole process of turning Afghan backwaters into oases of 'good governance'.
Le plus ca change, plus c'est pareil.
If the latest attempt to ‘crush’ the taliban couldn’t stand the light of some rational opposition from the Brit ambassador Cowper-Cole, it probably doesn’t have much of a change factor attached to it.
Some more of the same old failed military action with the same expected outcome at in other surges. i.e. An opportunity to declare a victory and retreat.
One day the American people will wake up and say a hearty, “fuck this”. And when they naturally start to tote up the cost for this massive waste, they’re going to point fingers at the military, who’ve let them down again.