Are We Fighting the Wrong War?

From remarks made by top NATO generals in Afghanistan, both Canadian and American, it seems there are two wars underway in that country, ours and the Taliban's. When our generals give us body counts and talk about decisive victories, they're talking about our war which they depict as a military war. That war is a dangerous distraction.

The war that matters is the Taliban's war and that's a political war. The Taliban isn't out to destroy our forces, they know they can't. They fight our weaknesses not our strengths. They retain the initiative, giving battle only when it suits them. Their war is aimed at discrediting the government, driving a wedge between the Karzai government and the Afghan people.

We declared victory in the recent battle of Panjwai. We won, militarily, because when it was all over the insurgents had left the field. That was our war. What we didn't do was to deny the Taliban a victory in their war, the political war. They stood and took everything we threw at them: small arms, artillery, rockets, attack helicopters, jet strike fighters. They showed the Afghan peasants they could take everything we had and still retire, on their own terms, in good order. They didn't kill many of our people but that wasn't important to their war. They won their war.

Of the two wars, theirs is the only one that really matters. This is their country, these are their people. We are aliens in that country. Our languages are foreign to them, we come from far-distant lands with foreign cultures, foreign religions and foreign lifestyles. Many Pashtun may not like it but the Taliban are the home team and they have the home team advantage. Even those who may not like the Taliban probably take some ethnic pride in watching the local boys best yet another foreign occupier in a long list of foreign occupiers.

If we were defending an honest, effectual government that the people supported, everything would be so much better. But the population is turning against Karzai and all the corruption and, when they do that, they're also turning against us. At this point reconstructing the Karzai government may be a lot more important than building new schools and roads. First, however, our political and military leaders must realize we need to fight the other guy's war, the one that matters.