Strategy for winning mission in Afghanistan

By Col. William Peterson

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We have decimated al-Qaida's leadership and influence in Afghanistan.

We and the Afghan army control all of the populated areas in the North, West, Central and South.

The Taliban have been kicked out of the Helmund province and Kandahar.

Even after the 30,000 surge troops have come home, we will still be able to finish our key missions of:

1. Training and advisers for the Afghan army and police. 100,000 more Afghan troops just this year.

2. Special Ops against remaining al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

3. Predator Drone and airstrikes against targets of opportunity.

4. Helping form, arm, train and advise village militias to protect their own villages has been hugely successful and is the backbone of our anti-Taliban efforts

Afghanistan has never been a country that accepts control from Kabul or Kandahar and never will be. It is a tribal society and tribe loyalty is everything. The Taliban are a loosely connected federation of more than 100 groups, each with their own territory leaders, tactics, loyalties and beliefs. Our efforts in assisting local villages and districts, valley by valley, who hate the Taliban, is working.

Reconciliation at the local level is key in paying local Taliban to join the local militia to fight other Taliban who come from other valleys - it is the right route to follow because we can't kill our way to victory.

The Taliban still own the sparsely populated Eastern mountainous area at the Pakistan border. This cannot be controlled until Pakistan controls its side of the border, which has never happened. We can cede control of this area to the Taliban but make them pay a high price for this real estate.

We need to triple the amount of reconnaisance teams to set up operations, sensor fields, so artillery fire, Predator drones and air strikes can be called in whenever the Taliban make the mistake of gathering in force.

Helicopter gun ships with night vision devices should patrol trails used by the Taliban, 24/7. These efforts will keep the Taliban from ever gathering in enough force to threaten the populated areas or support al-Qaida in Pakistan.

Afghanistan's other neighbors, Iran, Russia and China need to be brought in to support the efforts to stabilize Afghanistan because in the end they have the most to gain or lose by the fate of Afghanistan.

Col. William Peterson, of North Liberty, is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps. Comments: petersonarch@aol.com