NEW YORK TIMES
“Army History Finds Early Missteps in Afghanistan” reports:
“In the fall of 2003, the new commander of American forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, decided on a new strategy. Known as counterinsurgency, the approach required coalition forces to work closely with Afghan leaders to stabilize entire regions, rather than simply attacking insurgent cells…
“That early and undermanned effort to employ counterinsurgency is one of several examples of how American forces, hamstrung by inadequate resources, missed opportunities to stabilize Afghanistan during the early years of the war, according to the history, ‘A Different Kind of War.’”
WATCHDOG: First year blunders by presidents extract a huge price that cascades down through decades. Examples: John Kennedy’s “Bay of Pigs”; George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion (that led to neglect of Afghanistan.) Let’s pray that President Barack Obama’s health care bill does not prove to be one of them.
