Dishonesty About Afghanistan

BY Herschel Smith
12 years, 1 month ago

In the Armed Forces Journal, Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis drops a bombshell on the community.

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.

My arrival in country in late 2010 marked the start of my fourth combat deployment, and my second in Afghanistan. A Regular Army officer in the Armor Branch, I served in Operation Desert Storm, in Afghanistan in 2005-06 and in Iraq in 2008-09. In the middle of my career, I spent eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and held a number of civilian jobs — among them, legislative correspondent for defense and foreign affairs for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

As a representative for the Rapid Equipping Force, I set out to talk to our troops about their needs and their circumstances. Along the way, I conducted mounted and dismounted combat patrols, spending time with conventional and Special Forces troops. I interviewed or had conversations with more than 250 soldiers in the field, from the lowest-ranking 19-year-old private to division commanders and staff members at every echelon. I spoke at length with Afghan security officials, Afghan civilians and a few village elders.

I saw the incredible difficulties any military force would have to pacify even a single area of any of those provinces; I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base.

I saw little to no evidence the local governments were able to provide for the basic needs of the people. Some of the Afghan civilians I talked with said the people didn’t want to be connected to a predatory or incapable local government.

From time to time, I observed Afghan Security forces collude with the insurgency.

Much of what I saw during my deployment, let alone read or wrote in official reports, I can’t talk about; the information remains classified. But I can say that such reports — mine and others’ — serve to illuminate the gulf between conditions on the ground and official statements of progress.

And I can relate a few representative experiences, of the kind that I observed all over the country.

In January 2011, I made my first trip into the mountains of Kunar province near the Pakistan border to visit the troops of 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry. On a patrol to the northernmost U.S. position in eastern Afghanistan, we arrived at an Afghan National Police (ANP) station that had reported being attacked by the Taliban 2½ hours earlier.

Through the interpreter, I asked the police captain where the attack had originated, and he pointed to the side of a nearby mountain.

“What are your normal procedures in situations like these?” I asked. “Do you form up a squad and go after them? Do you periodically send out harassing patrols? What do you do?”

As the interpreter conveyed my questions, the captain’s head wheeled around, looking first at the interpreter and turning to me with an incredulous expression. Then he laughed.

“No! We don’t go after them,” he said. “That would be dangerous!”

According to the cavalry troopers, the Afghan policemen rarely leave the cover of the checkpoints. In that part of the province, the Taliban literally run free.

In June, I was in the Zharay district of Kandahar province, returning to a base from a dismounted patrol. Gunshots were audible as the Taliban attacked a U.S. checkpoint about one mile away.

As I entered the unit’s command post, the commander and his staff were watching a live video feed of the battle. Two ANP vehicles were blocking the main road leading to the site of the attack. The fire was coming from behind a haystack. We watched as two Afghan men emerged, mounted a motorcycle and began moving toward the Afghan policemen in their vehicles.

The U.S. commander turned around and told the Afghan radio operator to make sure the policemen halted the men. The radio operator shouted into the radio repeatedly, but got no answer.

On the screen, we watched as the two men slowly motored past the ANP vehicles. The policemen neither got out to stop the two men nor answered the radio — until the motorcycle was out of sight.

To a man, the U.S. officers in that unit told me they had nothing but contempt for the Afghan troops in their area — and that was before the above incident occurred.

The bombshell isn’t that things aren’t going well in Afghanistan.  The bombshell is that this specific Lt. Col. went on record saying so.

But the reader would have already known many of these things by reading my categories on the horrible Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.  I repeatedly called for chasing the insurgents, just like Lt. Col. Davis expected would happen, but General McChrystal withdrew troops to the population centers just like the Russians.  I said that al Qaeda and the Haqqani fighters would come back to the Pech River Valley, and they did.

Michael Yon and I have both called for withdrawal (me, because we have not and aren’t taking the campaign seriously).  But it’s significant that staff officers have begun to break ranks.  The campaign is not as advertised.  Regular readers already knew that.  Now staff officers are saying it.


Comments

  1. On February 7, 2012 at 6:42 am, RJ said:

    The new David Hackworth (About Face) has come forward. Too little, too late…again. Ticket punchers (think John Kerry, our fine winter soldier) have always been around, just like real warriors. Who wins wars? Not the ticket punchers, they have other, more important plans afoot.

    I should have bought stock in the company that produces those $475,000.00 each MRAPS. Maybe I should now look to get into the business of importing Afghan hash into America…I suspect the market will explode…sooner, rather than later!

    Then again…to watch that “great artiste” Madonna perform her leg spreading skills during the Super Bowl was real Americana in play, even though she lives in England and tries so hard to use a British accent. Gays in our military, silenced Catholics in uniform, increasing the minimum wage, super PACs targeting negative ads, inflation beyond your dreams…

    God, America is so great and wise too! Just ask our lawyer trained national politicians who most likely never spent a day wearing an American military uniform much less roaming about in an active combat zone putting his or her butt on the line for one’s beliefs.

    That’s a job for the “suckers” which means the non elites. Time to read your ancient Western civilization histories dear people. It’s also time to get into your Thunderbird with Thelma and Louise for the grand ride over the cliff!

    Bye bye…fools!

  2. On February 7, 2012 at 5:13 pm, TS Alfabet said:

    RJ, you had me going until you got to the Thelma and Louise reference.

    “Thelma and Louise” epitomize the Leftist mindset of taking the easy way out. They are the twisted Left’s weird idea of going out in a blaze of glory.

    Even if we accept your view that the U.S. is in deep shiitake mushrooms, the greatness of America will be found in how we right the ship. It may get real ugly. It may be a 2 or 3 generation effort. I have to believe that even Blue America will eventually wake up and see what’s happening in California and New York and Illinois and throw the remains of Leftist claptrap out the door for good.

  3. On February 7, 2012 at 5:55 pm, RJ said:

    TS Alfabet: Perhaps the movie role just for you would be the typist in “Saving Private Ryan” where this kid is scared to death of being in combat, makes a series of poor decisions costing the lives of his buddies, and then finally–after his Captain is killed along with the Sargent, takes out that German he should have nailed earlier.

    Getting into “your Thunderbird” is much like a mother’s statement “you made your bed, now lie in it!” along with the driver’s being leftists who will take you on the ride you allowed…the blaze might be glory for them but for you and others it will be more gory, little glory.

    The oceans are filled with ships like the Titanic…on the bottom, that many thought could/would never sink. Further, it’s already ugly, real ugly.

    Soon, you and your pals will be the new “Bond Slaves” of America while Obama-Mao and his Neo-Marxist pals bring about their idea of a fair and just America (as long as they are captains of this ship).

  4. On February 7, 2012 at 7:47 pm, TS Alfabet said:

    Wow. RJ. Way to take a comment inviting discussion and turn it into a personal grudge. I did not attack you personally in any fashion so your escalation is not only surprising but disturbing as well.

    In what way did “me and my pals” (whoever they might be) “allow” the leftists to drive “the Thunderbird” to use your metaphor?

    Do you have anything constructive at all to say or are you just looking to rant?

  5. On February 7, 2012 at 7:53 pm, TS Alfabet said:

    With regard to Lt. Col. Davis, we may have someone flying a false flag here.

    It appears that he wrote at least one column in 2007 that advocated something akin to Obama’s “let’s not fight, we can just talk this over” doctrine vis Iran and wrote another piece in 2009 that was also dead set against any combat action in A-stan whatsoever.

    The points of the post remain valid, but Davis may not be such a bombshell afterall. And, when you stop to think about it, the fact that he was allowed to print this in an official military journal may— just may– indicate that the Administration is only too happy to have an active military officer calling A-stan hopeless and making Obama look like he is wise and prudent by comparison.

  6. On February 7, 2012 at 11:15 pm, Herschel Smith said:

    RJ,

    How did TSA “allow” a ride with anyone else driving? What in the hell are you talking about?

  7. On February 8, 2012 at 8:39 am, RJ said:

    Whoops….

    Sometimes I get just a little too peeved at our national passive aggressive games and perhaps try too hard to point one’s thoughts in directions where I think simple truths reside. My goal is not to attack those who post here, nor to denigrate their thoughts and presentations, rather it is to suggest that a winnowing of stories might produce primary energies at play by those who never seem to speak clearly and always dodge direct responses to serious questions.

    The “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” crowd of political officials use such posturing as cover while their minions go about doing the desired work secretly intended.

    Perhaps it’s best that I slip back into the shadows…

  8. On February 8, 2012 at 4:21 pm, TS Alfabet said:

    Apology? accepted. Please don’t “slip back into the shadows” RJ. Just join the conversation. It sounds like you have a different perspective that needs to be in the mix.

  9. On February 8, 2012 at 4:27 pm, Herschel Smith said:

    No need for an apology. I just didn’t know what was going on.

  10. On February 12, 2012 at 10:11 am, Šťoural said:

    Full report Lt.Col.Davis

    http://www1.rollingstone.com/extras/RS_REPORT.pdf

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You are currently reading "Dishonesty About Afghanistan", entry #8218 on The Captain's Journal.

This article is filed under the category(s) Afghan National Army,Afghan National Police,Afghanistan and was published February 7th, 2012 by Herschel Smith.

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