Afghan Minister Urges NATO To Counter Taliban's Foreign Influx

[Warwick]

Wallabies, the border there is extremely porus and a virtual rabbit warren of points of entry.
It would take an extremely huge effort to close it down and the cost would be born by whom????

 

[zhaldev]

you will see more future attacks as long as US provide aid to pakistan.

 

[03USMC]

What are you talking about?
All the current military precence are doing are exposing your soldiers to IED,s on a daily basis.
There are very few direct engagements with Taliban forces at this date in The Stan and the engagements that occur are more often then not with local bands of criminals.
When the Taliban comes out to play they make sure they have every advantage in the fight.
When coallition forces are denied their gamewinner (CAS) the odds are stacked even further in Taliban advantage.

Can´t get civilian facilities up without basic safety.
Can´t get basic safety up, without fighting a war.
Can´t fight a war with your hands tied to your nuts.

As for counterinsurgency into Paki. Not happening in any greater scale then it currently is.
No one, and I mean no one wants another pissed off nation in that region.
Especially not one with nukes blowing in the wind.


My 2 cents.
//KJ.

Fully understand the disenchantment and bitterness on the part of the NATO militaries who have been putting themselves on the line. Just know that you are not alone in your POV. No one wants to be the last casualty in a war that has already been declared a defeat.

No one wants to fight under the new conditions, pretty much without CAS or other supporting arms.

It's gonna be an IED war and a war of small patrols getting hit with overwhelming force from here on out. Why shouldn't they use that tactic. All they have to do is bide their time till we go away......sucks I know, but I've been down this road before with a previous President.

 

[Big_Z]

Unfortanately we no longer live in the days of decisive victories. The days of honorable European armies meeting in a desolate field are gone. Our enemy is in Pakistan. Until access is granted and the gloves pulled off nothing will change. I am of the belief this will change though. The US or Europe will take another major terrorist attack or two and some politician will scream out bloody murder. That's when we can tackle the real root of this problem.

 

[A Can of Man]

Yep.
It's no longer a set play with an end game (as the planners of World War I had in mind).
It is now a process.

The problem is unlikely to end with Pakistan.
But that doesn't mean this problem can be ignored.

 

[PJ24]

There are very few direct engagements with Taliban forces at this date in The Stan

Not true.

and the engagements that occur are more often then not with local bands of criminals.

We have to deal with those guys too.

When the Taliban comes out to play they make sure they have every advantage in the fight.

Yup, they do. Smarter, not harder. Then again, we're not allowed to do that anymore, it's not "fair."

When coallition forces are denied their gamewinner (CAS) the odds are stacked even further in Taliban advantage.

Well, not entirely true. CAS is certainly a force multiplier and in some situations/circumstances it can definitely mean the difference between success and defeat or even life or death, but this is not the case all time every time. Can we effectively engage a large enemy force without CAS? Yes, it's possible, been there, done that. Not fun, but possible.

Besides, there's always arty . . . . . . oh wait, they took that too.

We (active task forces) need to reevaluate our TTPs though, for sure.

Can´t fight a war with your hands tied to your nuts.

And there's the rub. When you won't let over half of the allied forces go on the offensive and you lock the rest up in ridiculous ROEs, it gets harder and harder to kill badguys.

 

[KJ]

Not true.

(True from personal experience, since I am not you..Maybe you got another take.)

We have to deal with those guys too.

(Those are the guys most active at this time, even though they tend to claim AQ at every chance they get.)

Yup, they do. Smarter, not harder. Then again, we're not allowed to do that anymore, it's not "fair."



Well, not entirely true. CAS is certainly a force multiplier and in some situations/circumstances it can definitely mean the difference between success and defeat or even life or death, but this is not the case all time every time. Can we effectively engage a large enemy force without CAS? Yes, it's possible, been there, done that. Not fun, but possible.

Besides, there's always arty . . . . . . oh wait, they took that too.

We (active task forces) need to reevaluate our TTPs though, for sure.

(Never said you couldn´t win a fight against a larger force without CAS and Arty. I said the T,s make sure they have every advantage.
BTDT too. But this is not a pissing contest.
This is getting the facts on the table.
And anyway you cut it, when the excrement hits the perverbial fan you are pretty glad you can call in a few hogs, and you know it.)


And there's the rub. When you won't let over half of the allied forces go on the offensive and you lock the rest up in ridiculous ROEs, it gets harder and harder to kill badguys.

(Again, ISAF is another mission.
The real mission, the one the ISAF mission have been leaning on is not entierly, but almost gone.
Why? The US president said it was over.)

My comments inside ()

//KJ.

 

[PJ24]

I think you took my post in a way it wasn't intended, it wasn't intended to be a pissing contest in the least.

I cannot agree with you re: not engaging the Taliban that often. THat's not my experience and I'm guessing it just comes down to different AOs and different missions. I don't see other players anymore than I see Taliban. There are quite a few different insurgencies going on at the moment. It is true that the Taliban are using more IEDs at the moment, rather than engaging in decisive engagements, but even then, I can't say the ratio of Pashtun players vs Taliban encounters is any more. Again, I believe this disagreement comes down to missions, assignments, and AOs.

As for CAS, I'm JTAC certified and will used CAS like a *****. So I know its importance and I'm not trying to downplay that at all. Nothing gives you a warmer feeling than hearing the hogs and heck, even the fast movers coming in. But it isn't the end all be all to our success. What is a problem is taking away both CAS and Arty, that's when things can get ugly.