Is Special Operations Force Commando Teams The Model To Use In The Afghan War?

Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, is seen in flames after it was attacked May 1. REUTERS

Bin Laden Raid: A Model For How US Should Fight Afghanistan War? -- Christian Science Monitor

The US is now waging a troop-heavy counterinsurgency to win Afghan hearts and minds. But the bin Laden raid has boosted critics, who say the Afghanistan war should involve smaller forces and a greater reliance on targeted strikes.

With the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of a special operations force commando team on May 1, calls are intensifying to pull US troops out of Afghanistan more quickly and change US strategy in what has become America’s longest war.

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My Comment: The problem with such a strategy is that it is (now) too late to implement it in Afghanistan. The Taliban have reached a critical stage in which they can now sustain serious number of soldiers onto the field .... numbers that would be sufficient enough to overwhelm Afghan bases (and police stations) if U.S./NATO forces were not present. U.S./NATO special forces may help in blunting much of this .... but in the end it is number of boots that you have on the ground that will make a difference.

Having said that .... I am still not in favor of keeping boots on the ground now, tomorrow, or in the future. Afghanistan belongs to the Afghans .... and they are the ones who have to sort out the type of country that they want. But .... unfortunately .... this has become a military and political quagmire for the U.S. and its allies .... and I suspect that we are going to be stuck a bit longer in Afghanistan before our leaders realize how much of a losing proposition this has become for us.