U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks with U.S. Army Gen. John F. Campbell on Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2015. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tony Coronado
Daniel L. Davis, National Interest: It’s Time to Ask the Hard Questions on Afghanistan
General John F. Campbell, commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, recently held a press conference in which he told reporters that he hoped the president would not reduce the number of U.S. troops there from 9,800 to 5,500 by the end of 2016. “My intent would be to keep them for as long as I can,” he said. What the general didn’t say is what he hoped he’d be able to accomplish by keeping those 4,300 troops that he couldn’t without them. The implication—though he is careful to avoid explicitly saying so—is that his strategy will have a better chance of success if he keeps those troops. Evidence strongly refutes this unstated hope. Yet as is all too often the case, Western media organizations fail to ask General Campbell hard questions.
Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- January 4, 2015
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Japan’s master plan to destroy the Chinese Navy in battle -- Harry J. Kazianis, Asia Times/National Interest
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The 10 Most Blatantly Wasteful Defense Items In The Recent $1.8 Trillion Spending Bill -- Forbes
2016 Index of U.S. Military Strength (Video) -- Defense News
Pentagon: Hundreds of Military Kids Sexually Abused Annually -- AP
Some New Year's Thoughts On Aircraft Carriers -- Bryan McGrath, Information Dissemination
21st Century Seapower, Inc. -- Scott Cheney-Peters, War on the Rocks
Veteran Launches 'The War Horse' to Tell Stories of Iraq, Afghanistan -- Military.com
1 comment:
Nearly four years ago the author of this article then Lieutenant Colonel Daniel L. Davis wrote an article in the Armed Forces Journal: Truth, lies and Afghanistan -- How military leaders have let us down that began:
"I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces. What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground."
and the article ends:
"The American people deserve better than what they’ve gotten from their senior uniformed leaders over the last number of years. Simply telling the truth would be a good start."
The article is here.
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