RC/CA

Jul 7th, 2009 @ 8:49 pm

drymouth: Six NATO soldiers killed today and four of them in Kunduz, where I was last month on patrol (obligatory sunset shot before we were shot at with AKs above). Kunduz, as a Pastun area, has seen increased Taliban activity over the last year as Taliban are ‘squeezed’ up from the South. And I reckon we’ll see a lot more attacks in the West and North of Afghanistan. Why? Well, if I were a Taliban commander, faced with the might of the ‘uplift’ (it’s not a ‘surge’, people) down in Helmand, I wouldn’t waste valuable resources on fighting a battle I couldn’t win. Rather, I’d beat a tactical retreat, lay as many IEDs and booby traps as I went as possible and leave my less experienced, younger, and probably newly recruited foot soldiers to snipe away at the NATO forces. Meanwhile, I’d take the important chaps, the brains and the experience, to focus on the ‘softer’ targets of the North and West. ‘Softer’ because there’s fewer of them and because they have they’re own caveats. For example, the German soldiers who control the Northern region aren’t allowed to use lethal forces unless they’re under attack or an attack is imminent. This pretty much rules out ‘capture or kill’ missions. Additionally, Germany is facing an election pretty soon, and the Germans are famously uncomfortable, not just with fighting this war, but fighting wars abroad at all. They’ve got this rather strong history, you see. The Italians in the West have their own rules about how and where they’re allowed to fight, although I’m not so qualified to comment on those. With increasing pressure from insurgent attacks in these areas, aimed well, aimed quickly before other NATO troops can get there (I, as Taliban commander, also have the advantage of being able to move through the country much more quickly and easily than NATO troops), countries like Italy and Germany are going to find it very hard to remain as they are in Afghanistan. They either evolve, or they could simply leave. What we have on our hands here is an ultimate test of NATO solidarity. Do we do a frog chorus and all stand together? Or are we bound to put our national interests first? This question will come rushing to the forefront if we see, as I believe we will, more attacks in hitherto relatively peaceful areas.

drymouth:

Six NATO soldiers killed today and four of them in Kunduz, where I was last month on patrol (obligatory sunset shot before we were shot at with AKs above).

Kunduz, as a Pastun area, has seen increased Taliban activity over the last year as Taliban are ‘squeezed’ up from the South. And I reckon we’ll see a lot more attacks in the West and North of Afghanistan.

Why? Well, if I were a Taliban commander, faced with the might of the ‘uplift’ (it’s not a ‘surge’, people) down in Helmand, I wouldn’t waste valuable resources on fighting a battle I couldn’t win. Rather, I’d beat a tactical retreat, lay as many IEDs and booby traps as I went as possible and leave my less experienced, younger, and probably newly recruited foot soldiers to snipe away at the NATO forces.

Meanwhile, I’d take the important chaps, the brains and the experience, to focus on the ‘softer’ targets of the North and West. ‘Softer’ because there’s fewer of them and because they have they’re own caveats.

For example, the German soldiers who control the Northern region aren’t allowed to use lethal forces unless they’re under attack or an attack is imminent. This pretty much rules out ‘capture or kill’ missions. Additionally, Germany is facing an election pretty soon, and the Germans are famously uncomfortable, not just with fighting this war, but fighting wars abroad at all. They’ve got this rather strong history, you see.

The Italians in the West have their own rules about how and where they’re allowed to fight, although I’m not so qualified to comment on those. With increasing pressure from insurgent attacks in these areas, aimed well, aimed quickly before other NATO troops can get there (I, as Taliban commander, also have the advantage of being able to move through the country much more quickly and easily than NATO troops), countries like Italy and Germany are going to find it very hard to remain as they are in Afghanistan. They either evolve, or they could simply leave.

What we have on our hands here is an ultimate test of NATO solidarity. Do we do a frog chorus and all stand together? Or are we bound to put our national interests first? This question will come rushing to the forefront if we see, as I believe we will, more attacks in hitherto relatively peaceful areas.

Reblogged from Dry Mouth - Kabul Life.

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