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 feel better now. Apparently US forces are on the ground in Afghanistan and in considerable numbers. Many are attached to local Pashto tribal chiefs advising and negotiating. Others are out hiking around identifying targets for bombing. Still others are now actively seeking engagement; they're no longer trying to avoid contact, they're doing things like setting up roadblocks. It's not that I want any of our men to be hurt, but it just seems as if we need to be involved in the ground action -- and we are.That's because one of the goals of this operation is to make an example of the Taliban. When we go to the next nation which is harboring terrorists, we need to be able to say: "Get rid of them, or you will be the next Taliban." And with the spectacular defeat the Taliban just suffered, that could be a more than credible threat. But there may not be a convenient Northern Alliance equivalent in that next nation, and it is necessary that it be clear that we could and would have taken care of the Taliban even without them, and can do so in the next nation too. We must commit men on the ground and they must prove themselves in combat so that we have that credible threat for the next nation on our list: cooperate or die. In the mean time, let us honor the US Special Forces who have been fighting this war for us on the ground. They have done a textbook job on this war; it's difficult to conceive of how it could have been handled better to this point. (discussion in progress) Update: I feel more better now. Eight C-130 transports have landed at Bagrem airport north of Kabul and unloaded a force of 100 Royal Marines, and about 60 Americans. |
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