Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Rumsfeld: Surge in Afghanistan

Rummy thinks since the surge worked in Iraq, it can in Afghanistan too. But...
What’s needed in Afghanistan is an Afghan solution, just as Iraqi solutions have contributed so fundamentally to progress in Iraq. And a surge, if it is to be successful, will need to be an Afghan surge.

...

Additional troops in Afghanistan may be necessary, but they will not, by themselves, be sufficient to lead to the results we saw in Iraq. A similar confluence of events that contributed to success in Iraq does not appear to exist in Afghanistan.
The size of the country, the number of domestic security forces, the kind of economy, are all different than Iraq. Throw in some poppy fields and some Pakistani Taliban, and it's a whole different ballgame.

But he's positive:
The singular trait of the American way of war is the remarkable ability of our military to advance, absorb setbacks, adapt and ultimately triumph based upon the unique circumstances of a given campaign. Thus it has been throughout our history. And thus it will be in Iraq and Afghanistan, if we have the patience and wisdom to learn from our successes, and if our leaders have the wherewithal to persevere even when it is not popular to do so.

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