Winning in Afghanistan:Facing the rising threat

Paper

Thoughts fellas?

 

...appears to have saved twice in the one .pdf file.

Anthony Cordesmann is a l-o-o-o-ng term Central Asia hand, with a particluar viewpoint on Iran, having served in country before the Shah fell ,IIRC. A career spook.

I clicked STRAIGHT on the page regarding Iran's intentions. Unsurprisingly, he makes no mention of the lost window of opportunity post 9/11:

Iran: You have our genuine sympathy. (and we weren't responsible) How can we help ?
USA: You are the Axis of Evil - walk North till ya hat floats.

keeps the quarters and dimes rolling in I suppose.....

Lee Shaver

 

Well, it says there's nowhere near enough troops, planes and money, and that the current government is useless. (That's him talking about Afghanistan, not the UK). Also says that some NATO members like France, Germany, Turkey, Spain and Italy are not providing fighting forces and that the Poles coming next year will be poorly equipped.

Well, it also says how to improve the situation, and what all the various hostile groups are about (in fact that is the majority of the report), but it all has to start with more troops on the ground.

What I liked was his comparison with Iraq:

Iraq
Land Area: 432,162 sq km
Population: 26,783,383 people
Coalition Forces: ~162,000 people

Afghanistan
Land Area: 647,500 sq km
Population: 31,056,947 people
Coalition Forces: ~32,000 people

That's five times less forces to control a country that is about a third bigger.