Dirty,Costly Little War in Afghanistan

      Four more young Canadians have given their life in this never-ending and vicious war. This is not war in the traditional sense, with regular armies facing each each other. This is guerilla warfare fought on the one side...the Afghan/Taliban/ al Qaeda, while NATO is fighting a traditional war or at best a semi-traditional war. One side is fighting a total war, using all means at their disposal, (hit and run, IEDs, hiding amongst the civilian population, using them as shields, (inviting attacks and then blaming NATO for civilian casualties when they occur, as happens frequently),while NATO is fighting a limited war with limited means, which it cannot win militarily and for which Canadian soldiers stationed in the South are paying a heavy price.

      It is time to change tactics or leave. Nothing is gained from what is being done. Ground that is taken one day is lost another day. Villages that are cleansed one day are festered soon after withdrawal. This is not action but activity...digging a hole and filling it back over and over again . The mistake that was made initially has been compounded. Afghanistan with its terrain and its tribal division and its history, culture and religion has been the bane of many occupiers over the centuries...from Alexander to Ghengis Khan to the British and the Russians and now U.S.A  and NATO. The Afghanis come together against a common enemy and use their terrain to their advantage and they have persisted. Money, as the British discovered too late, is the means to rent allies, if only for a while. The Pasthuns do not like or get along with the Tajiks or the Uzbecks and especially with the Hazarras and each of them do not like or get along with the others. It was the alliance with the Nothern tribes that led to the ouster of the Taliban, who are mostly Pasthuns, now supported by al Qaeda and foreign jihadists/islamists. You have to separate the Pashtuns/ Talibans from the al Qaeda/ihadists/ islamists. If there are moderates, they are amongst the Pashtuns/Talibans. The others are religious extremists/ fanatics....the Islamists/ Jihadists.

      Now you can take the war directly to the al Qaeda/ Islamists/ Jihadists and pursue them across the Pakistani border, working with the Pakistani military, if they agree or without them if they do not. The safe havens must be made unsafe. Already the U.S. is using its drones to attack suspected sites. More need to be done. Special Forces, heavily backed must be used. The war, if it is to be won, must be done on the ground. The 17,000 additional troops that the Americans are sending must be bolstered by troops from other NATO countries...France, Germany Italy and the Poles, the Czechs etc. Now that France is back in NATO command, it can utilise its African experience in a positive sense, rather than training Hutu killers and involving in other mischief making among its former colonies.

      This is the only way to pay respect to those who have valiantly given their lives to make Afghanistan and by extension the rest of the world safe from the viciousness of the al Qaeda/ Islamists/Jihadists. Make it too hot for them to operate in the rugged tribal/border areas. Use massive force to drive them out  and then use the Special Forces to hunt them down and make sure that their passage is blocked. It will take a lot of manpower and you need the Afghanis and the Pakistanis, but it has to be done. Anything else is a betrayal not only to those who have paid the ultimate price but also to those who will pay in the future... the hopes of the ordinary Afghani who want peace and stability and our young men and women who have to bear the brunt of a failed policy that drinks their blood and waste their youth

      No more half- measures. Do it right or get out now. Not another life lost, because of the lack of leadership and courage. War is sometimes a necessary evil. It should be the last resort but if it cannot be avoided, then you have to do what is necessary to win. The Bush administration decided that Iraq with its oil was more important to control and thus neglected Afghanistan, when it should have been the focus. Now Obama has to make the hard choice as to how to end it. It is not going to be easy or pretty.