Leadership reforms for our bloated military flag officers and general officers (FOGO) caste that doesn't seem to focus on fighting and winning a war should be the priority even above increased defense spending. But then I digress bigly.
I'm on board much of this author's wish list for restoring military warfighting capabilities. But this claim?
The current crop of FOGOs spent twenty years in Afghanistan without realizing that they were trying to build an Afghan army in our own image that would not be able to sustain itself after we left. The "Forever War" should have been handed over to an Afghan army built along Taliban lines in 2006 to fend for itself.
I'm fully on board the critique of our flag and general officers. That they lost me should tell you something. I respect and value the institution of our military. I'm unhappy with how our leadership has evolved.
But I reject that charge about Afghanistan. We did not build an Afghan army in our image. We built a light infantry and paramilitary security force.
I further reject the idea that an army trying to hold a state should look like an irregular and insurgent army trying to overthrow that state. Why deny the Afghan security forces the advantages of some relatively cheap support like artillery, light armor--mostly wheeled, propeller-driven ground support and transport aircraft, and helicopters? Would we consider fighting that way superior?
Sure, some Afghan troops like special forces and rangers could take the insurgency/irregular fight to the Taliban. But that's it. With continued NATO and contractor support this would have been a good plan.
Mind you, I think the kind of force we built should have been for a decentralized state rather than trying to sustain the fiction of a unified nation-state in Afghanistan.
Had we done that a Taliban conquest of a city--even Kabul--would have been a
localized defeat that wouldn't panic other friendly centers of power. So that was
a FOGO error.
Finally, the notion that the kind of military we help an ally build only counts if America doesn't need to support our ally at war is nonsense. European NATO needed American help to defeat civil war-wracked Libya under Khadaffi in 2011. A weak and splintered enemy! What American ally doesn't need American support to keep fighting after a week?
Okay, my digression kind of took over. But my editor is fully supportive. Especially since it looks like a needed Roman decimation--figurative but targeted--is coming.
Start reforms from the top. Good leadership can fix the rest.
UPDATE: Related thoughts on restoring Americans' faith in our military.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.NOTE: You may also read my posts on Substack, at The Dignified Rant: Evolved. Go ahead and subscribe to it.
NOTE: I made the image with Bing.
