Success of Afghanistan campaign a miserable contrast to failure in Iraq

[GAP]

It's not a success yet, but it's not a quagmire either.

Success of Afghanistan campaign a miserable contrast to failure in Iraq
The Business Online  By Fraser Nelson  30 July 2006
http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?Success%20of%20Afghanistan%20campaign%20a%20miserable%20contrast%20to%20failure%20in%20Iraq&StoryID=71DBA139-9F27-43F2-81F2-421DD8B0A767&SectionID=CE32B1D2-7454-418B-A470-41A635475378

RUSH hour in Kabul is best avoided. The booming Afghan economy has packed the road with cars, but made the streets safe enough to walk in and created an environment where émigrés return home to set up business. It is a model of what Iraq should have been like, and the difference can be explained simply: in Afghanistan, we are learning from the occupation, but in Iraq we are not.

Since the Taleban was deposed in 2001, the Afghan economy has doubled in size, along with the average salary, and primary school enrolment is up fivefold. What little polling is possible shows 98% of Afghans say the country is moving in the right direction (compared with 35% of Iraqis, most of whom live in the Shi’ite south). The remaining battle in Afghanistan is to introduce order to its lawless regions.

Iraq, meanwhile, is now in Yugoslav-style ethnic conflict. A Shi’ite morgue recently took delivery of 70 headless bodies, and Sunni clerics are being killed. More civilians have died in Iraq than Lebanon in the past three weeks, but slaughter has become commonplace so warrants few headlines. Oil production, the economic lifeline, is still not up to its paltry level under UN sanctions. The mission has never seemed more daunting, and peace never so distant.

The story of Iraq is not troops versus insurgents – a false narrative repeated to the British and American public – but a civil war of Sunni versus Shi’ites who kill each other every day. The Kurds live in relative peace and prosperity in their autonomous north. Yet the fallacy is that “Iraqis” – the term is never split down to its ethnic components – want peace, and the sooner the wicked insurgents are defeated the better.

This is why police and army roll calls are seen as signs of success. The hand­over of power from allied troops to local police is paraded, mendaciously, as a move to the promised stability – and a step closer to the real goal, which is troop withdrawal from Iraq.
More on Link

 

[tomahawk6]

I dont see the situation in Iraq as a failure. The lefties/terrorists want to see the US fail in Iraq that is the viewpoint of this article.

 

[exsemjingo]

Like most articles, this one is rather ho-hum.  It is very difficult to find meaningful analysis and criticism of our missions from media sources.
The media needs to stop is comparing every operation to the Liberation of Holland.

 

[KevinB]

Maybe its me -- but from my perspective Iraq is getting better while Afghanistan is getting worse...

 

[vonGarvin]

Maybe its me -- but from my perspective Iraq is getting better while Afghanistan is getting worse...

That may be the case, at least in the south.  But I also think it "may" be perspective here in Canada, at least.  Now that our troops are in the KAF region, it naturally garners more attention here.  Even when I was in Kabul in 03 we heard of "stuff" going on in the south, and even were witness to US (and other) air actions, albeit over the horizon.  For example, one morning one of our sergeants said something to the effect that he thought he was witnessing a pretty cool lightning storm way off in the distance, but when the sun rose, he saw the dark black smoke rising, due to an aerial or artillery bombardment. 

 

[GAP]

What we have witnessed in the South, is exactly what the Taliban promised and delivered. And it almost worked. It cranked up the rhetoric in the western Parliaments, the Dutch, Germans, British all had long convoluted debates and hesitation that played right into the Taliban's and AQ's hands. They are very good at fomenting public opinion in the west and continue to do so.

A successful whisper campaign is going on, as evidenced by the falling support for Afghanistan here in Canada. We can blame a lot of things, but follow everything back to the why, and you will find that there has been incidents that create a reaction out of proportion to the original action. Each of our soldier's deaths, with the exception of the most recent, has been treated as a national disaster.

Some good reporting (ie: Christie Blatchford, and a few others) have actually helped. It has brought the image of the Canadian soldier to the forefront of the public's mind, given them a good impression of their dedication and abilities. That firefight clip in Panjway probably did more to impress Canadians that all the news clips the previous months.

With the transition going on right now, I hope they don't back off on the aggressive patrolling, et al. Image is everything over there right now in the "Hearts and Minds" thingy, and if they are seen to be backing off, sitting on their Mountain Thrust laurels, it will not bode well.

 

[vonGarvin]

Hopefully this is treated just as any other "relief in place" operation.  In other words, no pause, just a rotation of personnel.

 

[exsemjingo]

A successful whisper campaign is going on, as evidenced by the falling support for Afghanistan here in Canada. We can blame a lot of things, but follow everything back to the why, and you will find that there has been incidents that create a reaction out of proportion to the original action.

Just what I said.  The Afganis are going to continue selling their opium poppies; they are not going to shower them on Canadian troops.  That does not by any means mean that the mission is a write-off, though weak stomached people may think that way.

 

[KevinB]

VonG -- I was actaully relating to my burkas eye view of Kabul from changes in 2004 ->2005->2006...

 

[vonGarvin]

VonG -- I was actaully relating to my burkas eye view of Kabul from changes in 2004 ->2005->2006...

Roger.
I just put my perspective from here, coffee in hand, attempting to filter the media messages out.


(We hear so little of Kabul now that our troops are in KAF and area)

 

[GAP]

Just as an aside to the Iraq situation, there are some massive successes happening.
Here's one release on a massive cache and a few smaller ones.

Coalition Forces in Iraq Seize Several Weapons Caches, Detain Eight Suspects
American Forces Press Service
http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=497

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 – U.S. soldiers in Iraq seized several large weapons caches and detained eight terrorist suspects in operations yesterday.
Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team seized a large weapons cache during a cordon-and-search operation in northern Baghdad shortly before 1 p.m. The weapons cache included 21 AK-47 assault rifles, 55 magazines of 7.62 mm ammunition, 2 PKC machine guns, a Russian sniper rifle, tens of thousands of rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, a fragmentary grenade, four jihadist propaganda magazines, and a martyrdom recruitment poster.

Earlier yesterday, soldiers from 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained six suspected terrorists north of Baghdad at about 3:30 a.m. The Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers conducted a search of several houses. The suspects are being held for questioning.

Elsewhere, soldiers from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, assigned to Multinational Division Baghdad, detained two suspected terrorists and seized a massive weapons cache in a warehouse during a search of Nur and Ghazalyia yesterday in support of Operation Together Forward.

The weapons and munitions seized included 272 120 mm mortar rounds, 212 82 mm mortar rounds, 99 60 mm mortar rounds, 33,800 14.5 mm rounds, 5,000 7.62 rounds, 90 5.56 rounds, 165 19 mm rounds, 104 rocket-propelled grenades, 240 23 mm rockets, 200 60 mm primers, 22 107 mm rockets, nine 069B rockets, 11 RPG rounds, two landmines, a .30 caliber shape charge, a crater charge, 11 fragmentation grenades, a machine gun, two AK-47s, a PKC machine gun, an RPK machine gun, two 14 mm machine guns, 20 full AK-47 magazines, ammunition drums, various loose ammunition, 5,000 feet of detonation cord, three bayonets, five 82 mm tubes, four 60 mm tubes, three 60 mm mortar bipods, four 81 mm mortar bipods, two 60 mm mortar bases, an 81 mm base, two land mines, an 81 mm mortar base, an aiming circle, two aiming poles, 54 rocket motors, and various bomb-making materials.

The suspected terrorists were detained for questioning. All munitions and weapons were confiscated for destruction. Five hundred buildings were searched during the operation.

Operations have taken place in Doura, Shula, Ghazaliyah and Ameriyah from Aug. 7-16. During this time, Iraqi army, Iraqi police and coalition soldiers have cleared more than 23,000 buildings, 21 mosques, detained 54 suspected terrorists, seized 326 weapons, registered 341 weapons, found 10 weapons and munitions caches, and removed 900 tons of trash.


End