The Gantt Report
Immediately after President Barack Obama made his speech about his Afghanistan policies, political haters began to attack the Presidential suggestions and decisions made.
One of the main complains centered around the President’s proposed time table for deploying troops and withdrawing troops from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border conflict. Obama says he expects increased troops to be in Afghanistan for 18 months. The haters either say that’s too long a time, too short or wrong to suggest any benchmark or time amount for military decisions.
Well, I can’t tell you who is right about time for soldiers, but I can tell you that what I read into the President’s address was somewhat different.
I heard “time table” but I didn’t take the date references as anything absolute. I know and the political haters know that in American politics, the “time” is never the time, the stimulus is never the stimulus, the price is never the price, the benefactor is never the benefactor, the friend or ally is never the friend and so on and so forth.
To me, the President was talking about a “time table” for the Afgan government and for the Afgan people to demonstrate their own resolve and commitment to a safer, more secure, more prosperous and more peaceful Afghanistan.
I don’t care how you describe it, when American soldiers are deployed to countries that have money or resources or strategic positions, the American soldiers almost never leave.
Soldiers are now in Japan, Germany, South Korea and in other countries.
I would suggest that more money be given to the people in the region to show them that America wants to help the people. Money for guns and bombs will not assure victory. Money to corrupt Afgan politicians will do little to facilitate progress in the country or to end the battles and the bloodshed in the cities and in the country side.
American politicians and some citizens love to talk about America being at war and winning “The War”. Don’t take my word for it but American and no similar fighting force can ever again win a war on the ground!
Cruise missiles, Tomahawk missiles, Predators and things like that are our specialty. A war on the ground is a Guerilla War and that is not our specialty. A Guerilla War takes courage, heart, patience and perseverance and more. A guerilla soldier can shine your shoes during the day, poison you at lunch and cut your throat at dinner. A guerilla soldier can blend into the population and become invisible.
I don’t care how many troops are sent to Afghanistan for how many months. The Afghan people have to rise up against their countrymen called The Taliban for themselves.
Americans should find Bin Laden, terminate Al Queda and come home.
