Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1407740
resources, US strategy would be clear, focused on main- taining access to those resources. To complicate things more, there were two strategic is- sues among many others. One was time. It was clear that at the beginning, politicians expected swift and decisive victory in Desert Storm style. When it became impossible, the next thing was setting deadlines. They are useful in civilian life or even in military procurements, but setting deadlines in counterinsurgency operations is a clear sig- nal for the enemy that he needs to hold its positions. The other issue was space. Space that included Pakistan. The Pashtun-dominated area on both sides of the Afghan-Pa- kistan border, that was more like a line drawn on the map rather than actual border, meant that the Taliban groups could easily find shelter in Pakistan, where only forces that were allowed to operate were US drones. And while officially Pakistan remained a US ally, it was more than often accused of turning blind eye by its security services to terrorist activities. And it was difficult to put pressure on Pakistan – supply lines of coalition forces ran through its territory. In the end, it was not a Vietnam-like ending. There was of course agreement, but conditions were different. The US simply decided to quit, not willing to put more efforts in war that seemed to be unwinnable. If there would be no peace agreement and no withdrawal, a statemale would last years. Was there any chance to win? It depends on the definition of winning and brings back the question of strategic goals. With images of the Kabul airlift still in memory, there are two possibilities. First would be limiting the goals only to destruction of AQ, elimination or capture of its leadership and pos- sibly Taliban and denial of use of Afghanistan as a safe harbour. That would mean something like the 2001 cam- paign, using air strikes, special forces raids. Cooperation with local forces would be limited only to military opera- tions – as long as they would be aimed at terrorists. There would be some form of pro-western government, some 8 www.fragoutmag.com