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Meantime, the War Burns Hot

2 years ago

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Even as President Obama was finishing his speech in Cairo this morning -- urging everyone in the region to look past their hatreds and take concrete steps toward peace -- three American soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed in Afghanistan.

First reports said the convoy struck an IED just north of Kabul and was raked with gunfire, a common insurgent tactic.

Obama's rhetoric this morning was sober and thrilling, capturing the hopes of millions that the agony of decades of war, of unspeakable atrocities in the deliberate targeting of civilians, could be ended.

The morning's deaths in the baking heat of Afghanistan, in a clash between extremists burning with inexplicable rage and young American volunteers perhaps innocent of such passions, is the reality to Obama's rhetoric.

The rhetoric is easy. Not so easy is the work given to the 54,000 American troops and hundreds of American civilians trying to help create some stability in Afghanistan -- not peace, just a little stability.

They're not getting enough help in this practical work, the departing US commander in eastern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, told me.

While Obama travels the Mideast, it's been another rough week in Afghanistan. Four Afghan policemen were shot to death at their posts by Taliban insurgents. Four other American soldiers were killed when their convoys struck IEDs and six Afghan civilians were killed by a suicide bomber, according to officially recorded violence.

That was just on Monday, a typical weekday in Afghanistan. The rest of the week got even worse, with hard fighting by American and allied troops across much of the country's east and south, and suicide bombers and Taliban assassins hard at their grisly work.

Schloesser, after 15 months in this cauldron, has turned command over to Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the 82^nd Airborne Division, which now takes over responsibility for eastern Afghanistan and its perilous border with Pakistan.

During their tour, the soldiers of the 101^st Airborne lost 178 killed and 810 wounded, "some grievously," Schloesser said in a teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon this week.

He said violence in his sector is 25 percent higher this year than a year ago, and that a year ago it was 40 percent higher than the previous year. In short, Afghanistan's violence is worsening.

Schloesser and his troopers have tackled this problem with a combination of relentless old-fashioned fire and maneuvering – continuing their pursuit of insurgents through the winter's howling blizzards, for instance – and the critical work of helping to expand local government and security forces.

This is America's exit strategy: to enable Afghanistan's army and police and its national and local governments to manage the country's future. The U.S. military can help by building roads and schools, training Afghan soldiers and cops, and providing a few advisors for local government.

But what's really needed is a "civilian surge'' of American experts into Afghanistan, Schloesser said, including engineers, educators and experts in law who can help train local prosecutors, judges and government administrators.

I pressed him on this point, recalling that commanders in Afghanistan have for years been demanding more U.S. civilians and not getting them. He responded diplomatically:

"As you note, we've – for a long time I and my peers have been asking for and calling for civilian skill sets that we just do not have inside the military.

"And in some cases,'' he said carefully, "some of the calls have actually been fulfilled.''

One practical impact: most small towns and district centers don't have a working judicial system to arrest, prosecute and try criminals. Where there are rudimentary courts, they are often corrupt. And that means local folks often turn to the Taliban, who hand out harsh but effective judgment and punishment.

That's the huge gap between Obama's rhetoric and the gritty reality in places like Afghanistan. Earlier this year, the President endorsed a new Afghan strategy and authorized 21,000 additional troops. Most of them are already there.

Policy makers and counterinsurgency experts long have recognized that America's goals in Afghanistan can't be reached without a "surge" of civilians.

So where are they?

Tagged: Afhganistan, barack obama, BarackObama, Cairo speech, CairoSpeech, Curtis Scaparrotti, CurtisScaparrotti, Jeffrey Schloesser, JeffreySchloesser

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