Petraeus on Afghanistan

ARTICLE: Petraeus: 'Tough Months' Lie Ahead in Afghan War, By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post, June 12, 2009

Petraeus on the months ahead in Afghanistan.

Key bits:

Two-thirds of all the attacks in Afghanistan are concentrated in about 10 percent of the country's districts, areas where more than 20,000 new U.S. soldiers and Marines are flowing in to pursue insurgents and provide greater security for Afghans, Petraeus said at a conference here of the Center for a New American Security, a defense think tank.

The current troop buildup will increase the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from about 31,000 at the end of 2008 to 68,000 by the fall. The new forces include Marine and Army combat brigades as well as an Army aviation brigade that will double the number of helicopters available for missions in southern Afghanistan, he said.
The strategy draws upon, but does not attempt to duplicate, lessons from the troop "surge" in Iraq, where attacks have dropped from 160 a day at the peak of the fighting in 2007 to about 10 to 15 a day during the past six months, he said.

In one significant difference, Petraeus said that in combating the largely rural insurgency of Afghanistan, it will not be possible for U.S. forces to move into neighborhoods the same way they did in Iraqi cities.

"You don't live among the people in Afghanistan," he said. "First of all, there's no empty houses. Second, the villages particularly in the rural areas tend to be small." Instead, he said, U.S. troops will establish outposts on high ground from which they can oversee nearby villages as well as roads leading in and out.

This approach, which Petraeus called both "culturally and operationally correct," will reduce the likelihood that the presence of U.S. forces will draw the fighting into rural communities, which would lead to more civilian casualties.

So you see the similarities and the differences.

Comments

[William R. Cumming]

Do we know the extent of private contractor personnel (US or otherwise) supporting US forces in AF-Pak? How about Iraq? Is this number a significant change from say one year ago?

[Louis Heberlein]

But the conflict will still drone on.

[large]

quote:But the conflict will still drone on.

Not necessarily. Citing the recent push back against the Taliban in NW Pakistan by the more moderate citizens there, it's possible that we might encourage the same in Afghanistan.

The biggest key to counterinsurgency is to gain trust and support of the locals. Without it you cannot function, and with it, as we saw in Iraq, deprives the insurgents of their logistical support as well as cover . .

[Louis Heberlein]

The 'drone on' comment meant the flying ones ... will remain key factor in monitoring and clobbering AQ/Taleban bad guys even though Petraeus will have a lot more boots on ground. Lots of drones will help more in that Afghanistan environment that Petraeus noted was so different from Iraq.