30,000 U.S. Troops to Afghanistan

I listened to General Stanley McChrystal speak this morning and as much as I feel his compassion for his soldiers I was sadden that he is yet to learn the Culture of the people for whom he has pledged to protect. General McChrystal stated four elements of his strategy but unconsciously forgot to mention the hidden cost of the 30,000 U.S. troops that are bound to Afghanistan. In his four elements, he listed (1) Clarity, (2) Capability, (3) Commitment and (4) Confidence. As in every business strategy, there is a down side or losses, and so my question is: of the 30,000 U.S. troops deployed, how many were estimated to be killed or will not come back to United States alive?

Afghanistan has one solution and that is to leave the country to the owners and work with other Islamic countries to resolve any conflicts there may be. The administration has not learned anything from the Russians. The country is bordered in the east by Pakistan and in the west by Iran and none of these countries seems to cooperate in the joint effort to stop the insurgency in Afghanistan rather they enhance and collaborate with the oppositions. They also feel threatened by U.S. presence in the neighboring country Afghanistan and because of that will like to see U.S. go away rather than cooperate in this joint effort since there is nothing [positive] there for them. Moreover, giving the timeline on how long the troops will stay in Afghanistan is not going to help rather it will fuel the other side to counter-strategize to win the war. One thing we seem to over look is the Islamic way of doing things. There is a holy war going on and how long are these soldiers going to protect the Afghanistan knowing full well that as soon as they leave the Taliban will take over the leadership of Afghanistan? It is either that the administration has not learn from the Russians or that it does not understand the Islamic culture or that it wants to play politics with this crisis.

The longer the war in Afghanistan, the more financial burden on the U.S., and the more the U.S. economy suffers and unemployment gets worse. I look for another deployment in 18 months and this time for a different reason – how U.S has almost finished the job but just needs few more Soldiers to do so.