On COIN and an Anti-COIN Counterrevolution? — An email discussion (or interview) with Dr. Bernard Finel of The American Security Project ( that link is the blog, here is the main site for the org).
COIN, Afghanistan, strategy, tactics, our pool of geopol experts — Finel touches on all these things and more. Also with excellent links to more information.
Update — a brief analysis of Zenpundit’s view of why we fight
Zenpundit says:
It may be time to leave Iraq; Afghanistan, by contrast, presents unsolved problems with al Qaida’s continuing as a functional organization in Paktia and in Waziristan-Baluchistan across the border in Pakistan. While circumstances do not require our turning Afghanistan into the Switzerland of the Hindu Kush, al Qaida is not business that we should leave unfinished.
Emailed comment:
Much of 9/11 was planned or trained for in Hamburg, Las Vegas and Florida. Are we going to leave them unfinished, too?
My reply:
Al Qaeda has moved beyond the urban legend zone, to a solid place in the America’s nightmares. Asking about the “war on terror” is like asking why GI Joe must fight COBRA, UNCLE fight THRUSH, or James Bond fight SPECTRE. It’s a consensual hallucination.
Questioning it brings one directly to Plato’s dialog about the cave. You cannot convince people that they’re looking at shadows. It must fill some deep need in the American psyche.
Here are attempts to grapple seriously with the reasons for fighting in Afghanistan. It is, unfortunately, a waste of time — as our reasons are rooted in our fears, and hence beyond rebuttal.
For a discussion of Zenpundit’s “unfinished business” al Qaeda see An expert explains why we must fight in Afghanistan, 11 June 2009.
Other posts:
- Why are we are fighting in Afghanistan?, 9 April 2008 — A debate with Joshua Foust.
- Stratfor: “The Strategic Debate Over Afghanistan”, 13 May 2009
- Real experts review a presentation about the War (look here, if you’re looking for well-written analysis!), 21 June 2009
- The Big Lie at work in Afghanistan – an open discussion, 23 June 2009
- “War without end”, a great article by George Wilson, 27 June 2009
- “Strategic Calculus and the Afghan War” by George Friedman of Stratfor, 17 July 2009
- Powerful insights about our war in Afghanistan, part 1, 18 July 2009
- We are warned about Afghanistan, but choose not to listen (part 2), 19 July 2009
- Powerful insights about our war in Afghanistan, part 3, 20 July 2009
To see all posts about our new wars:
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