Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Shape of Things to Come

I noted that we are shaping the battlefield of Kandahar and putting off our general "offensive" until we can make the region receptive to a hearts and minds approach.

I wondered, as I have in the past, about whether we need to kill off the enemy who won't switch sides (and who kill or indimidate those whose hearts and minds can be won).

Well, apparently we are doing that:

Gen. McChrystal has shifted his strategy away from population-centric nation-building to Special Forces night raids against the Taliban.

The rest of the article is a generally gloomy picture of Afghanistan that I don't share, but that tidbit is a useful piece of information.

Sometimes you just have to kill the enemy. Then the rest are more receptive to the hearts and minds thing.