After this battle:
It began before dawn — a devastating, well-planned attack. About 300 insurgents swarmed out of a village and mosque and attacked a pair of isolated American outposts in a remote mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan with machineguns, rockets and grenades.
They first stormed the Afghan police post at the foot of the hill in the province of Nuristan, a Taleban and al-Qaeda stronghold on the lawless Pakistan border. They then swept up to the Nato post. The battle lasted all day. American and Afghan soldiers finally repelled them, with the help of US helicopters and warplanes — but at heavy cost.
Eight American soldiers and two Afghan policemen were killed, with many injured. It was the worst attack on Nato forces in 14 months, and one of the deadliest battles of the eight-year war. The insurgents seized at least 20 Afghan policemen whose fate last night remained unclear.
In this type of warfare, it becomes a test of will. The enemy likely knows at least some of our hesitancy regarding the future of Afghanistan. Given that everyone on earth has learned the lesson of Vietnam – America can only be defeated in Congress and the White House – what the enemy is doing is upping the ante. They are expending lives and resources on a lavish scale in a strategy designed to make Obama unwilling to risk political capital on further escalation – and thus set the stage for our withdrawal.
The only way we can now win this war in Afghanistan is to send sufficient forces to demonstrate to the enemy that their current expenditure of blood and material has only resulted in more Americans to fight than before. There is nothing quite so disheartening than to fight your hardest and only come out worse off than when you went in. Additionally, a vigorous counter-offensive will show the Afghan people that we simply will not quit – and it is this conviction, once placed in them, which will lead to some Afghan version of the “Anbar Awakening” which crippled the terrorists in Iraq.
If we do something other than strongly reinforce, then we risk ultimate defeat – defeat in little driblets as more Americans and NATO forces die; more Afghans conclude that we’re the losers; more hedging and weakness by an Administration which fears to lose but lacks courage to win. The hardest part is the first part – making the decision to fight. I’m sure it tortured President Bush when he considered that after years in Iraq the only way out was to send more and have more people die in the short term…but, he did it; and victory was our reward. This will not be an easy decision for Obama – no decision which will result in certain death for some can be, and I pray I’m never in such a position – but it is a decision he must make. And he must make it now.
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