Operation Mushtarak began this weekend. The Obama military is going to war under the banner of a non-English noun.
Mushtarak is defined as “common,” “joint,” “combined,” “concurrent,” or “collective;” in the Arabic of international relations this word is used to form the phrase al-amn almshtarak (collective security). Mushtarak is the verbal noun of the eighth measure of the verb root “Sh-ra-ka,” an ancient Semitic and Nilo-Saharan word meaning to share, to participate, and to partner.
As I expected, this is where the lefty blogosphere prepares to lose its shit; but I have full faith and confidence in my branch of service. See the red blob? That’s the strategic objective of the current offensive.
There are going to be civilian casualties (yes, it’s inevitable). There are also going to be dead American heroes because all military operations in urban terrain produce casualties. Rockets will fly off course because, of course, their every component was built by the lowest bidder. Unit commanders will not hesitate to establish superiority of fire; the mission right now is to find and eliminate resistance. The object is actual shock and we — not look-at-me-I’m-tough-on-terr’rsts shock and awe, but actual shock and awe that ends the fighting. This is not a fireworks display to announce the arrival of the American hegemony, but the quiet arrival of the Obama army.
When the battle is over and the Taliban are gone, you have established space for peace.
As we saw in the conquest of Baghdad, once that phase is over you can count on things to remain relatively quiet for about 24 hours. Team leaders will have to establish security. It is an interesting force-mix on the ground: infantry, armor…and lots of Military Police. Y’know, the guys who know how to keep a city secure and direct traffic?
Like, guys trained to do this sort of stuff?
Which…looks a lot like this?
Does any nation do it better? Yes, there are other nations who can do it quite well, and thankfully they are on our side. Indeed, it is a telling difference that America’s strongest allies are still with us in this fight, and doing good work.
The Taliban have shooters and they have weapons, and yes they will use the rules of engagement against us. THAT IS THE POINT; WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS. Some helpful background on the current rules of engagement, from AP via HuffPo, emphasis mine:
Under the current rules of engagement, troops retain the right to use lethal force in self defense, said U.S. Col. Wayne Shanks, a spokesman for the international force.
The rules seek to put the troops in the “right frame of mind to exercise that right,” Shanks said. They require troops to ask a few fundamental questions:
• Even if someone has shot in my general direction, am I still in danger?
• Will I make more enemies than I’ll kill by destroying property, or harming innocent civilians?
• What are my other options to resolve this without escalating the violence?
Luckily, the troops also have an army of aid workers and a sort of government-in-waiting are at the starting line for the go-order. Huge amounts of cash will be spent where they have the most effect, which is in putting people to work and co-opting the local notables. In other words, it’s the perfect relief army, and it’s made up of every international organization under the sun. (Adding: except the UN, it turns out!)
The war will not be over, but the town will be in NATO hands and it will not implode.
From there, follow-on forces will reach further and the same process will continue. This is not understood well by certain editors (Psst: Arianna! Simon Tisdall is not a good source for an opinion on force sizes).
Some reports say the Taliban are regrouping in Uruzgan, north of Helmand. The question thus arises: is the allied offensive merely displacing the problem? And what about the war’s hinterlands: the Talib and al-Qaida bases in Waziristan – where Pakistan perpetually prevaricates – hostile Baluchistan, and the northern borders, where a spreading war threatens fragile Uzbek supply routes?
Helmand Province is a breadbasket. Afghanistan will need it to survive as a landlocked state with so little infrastructure and export power. In other words, if The Thing Called Afghanistan is to become an actual country instead of a basket case, it will need this province. The best look I’ve had at a map is at the Guardian, but it’s a Flash file with no embedding. From UnderstandingWar.org comes a fairly good one that I’ve marked up:
The red horseshoe around Marjah is the perimeter, supported by camps and fuel points throughout the operational zone. The black arrows represent actual strategic real estate. The blue circle is the region where the Taliban have fled: the same sparsely-populated mountains where American firepower was unleashed in 2001. So much the better in the age of Predator drones.
Nor is the Taliban monolithic; “divide-and-conquer” is the order of the day. You’ll note that no one in this administration is giving speeches about the Taliban’s destruction. It’s a remarkably impersonal kind of war for a change.
Perhaps McChrystal can win over the Taliban himself ala George Washington and Doublehead and put a nice, yellow bow on a victory. Which leaves me wondering what a military victory under this president would look like on Fox News. Speaking of which, I predict fake outrage at naming the operation in Arabic in 5, 4, 3, 2… In fact, the better this offensive turns out, the more I expect United Nations hysteria to show up on Faux Noise. Get ready for the John Bolton rerun.
The only question: where are the internationalists among the left, and can the left adequately promote success?
And would someone in the vast liberal media conspiracy please get a political geographer on the air to explain how employment migration patterns will have men returning from those mountains for work in Spring? Number one job: create jobs.
War is a sort of unnatural disaster. Worse, it is a blunt instrument. Yet as a disaster, it is something to be managed by professionals with plenty of supplies and money to maintain the peace. Obama has no intention of being remembered for his wars, but if he is able to keep his promise and announce troop reductions in 2011 he may very well be remembered for redefining America’s military doctrine for the 21st Century.
UPDATE: According to the AP and CNN, Pakistan has captured a senior Taliban commander with knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts. Again, I ask: what does an Obama victory look like on Faux Noise?
