War on Terror Winning Hearts and Minds
Most Canadians do not realize that the so called war on terror has been waged for a decade. This is roughly the amount of time that it took to win World War one and two.
Think about the financial burden of this prolonged war with no end in sight. Alkaid and Taliban are not traditional forces to search and destroy. The enemy does not fight like regular soldiers. These enemy combatants blend in with the civilian population. They do this because coalition forces do not want to end up on the evening news with dead women and children. Western forces have a hard time distinguishing enemy combatants from civilians. It appears that the Canadian government did not learn the lessons from the American disaster in Vietnam.
Coalition forces are trying to fight the same enemies as the former Soviet Union. Soviet forces were equipped with a few hundred thousand troops. The Russian Afghan conflict was fought for a little less than a decade. In the end the Russians were forced to withdraw in 1989, two years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most do not realize that Russia used chemical weapons, Carpet bombing from the sky instead of capturing the Town they turned. They also lay anti personal mines disguised as dolls and other kid’s toys; they summary execute any one that was not communist. Basically ever International law was broke by these war crimes.
The coalitions approach to winning this war is a policy called Winning the Hearts and Minds. How do coalition forces expect to do this when they are unable to distinguish friend from foe. This causes massive amount of fear, stress, mistrust and anger on both sides of the conflict. Many civilians become combatants because of injury to their families, themselves and their way of life. This is exactly how small militia groups win wars against major military power. That is what guerrilla war is, hit and run blend in with the civilian population, Control the country side, and they make sure that civilians are within close proximity to the battle, so if theirs casualties this breaks their opinion of the Coalition.
See America armed, trained and supported the Taliban in the 1980's because this group was at war with Russia <soviets>. American Special Forces and advisers trained these groups in Gorilla war fair. The U.S supplied Ak47' Explosives<, intelligence> from spy satellites, Ammo, money and Stinger Missiles. These stingers could lock on and shoot down fast flying aircraft and helicopters. See the Afghan freedom fighters were about to lose the war, because Russia controlled the Air Space over the battlefield. But the stinger Han Held Missile turned the tide against Russia.
America supported, and training of these militia groups was poor, short sighted idea. By 1997, Osama Bin-laden had declared a holy war against the Western World especially Americans citizens. Now we fight these militant groups <terrorists> that were armed and trained in guerrilla tactics and insurgences by America’s special ops soldier’s and the CIA.
It roughly cost’s $700 000 annually to keep an American soldier in combat in Afghanistan. This does not include the soldiers pay, benefits, nor does this include vehicles, airstrikes, artillery and all the other things that go with war. Think about all the money spent on rebuilding infrastructure in Afghanistan. The majority of these building projects in Afghanistan use Western Contractors and materials. Then the equipment needed has to go through customs, then transported around the world. This approach does not seem very logical or cost efficient.
Most do not realize that the Americans have spent 300 billion on the Afghanistan conflict. Imagine the costs that are not told to the public. You can also add the cost in life, material, money to the other coalition forces like Canada and other allies. Most people would be shocked at the cost. Plus we have made enemies out much needed part of the world countries and their civilian population is unhappy with your conduct. So why do we do this when our economies are addicted to Middle Eastern oil. Why is it that Western Government’s alienate and in some cases accidentally kill civilians during Coalition missions and raids? What we call Collateral Damage isn’t that pathetic.
If we truly want to win the hearts and mind of the Afghan population, why doesn’t our government and military leaders start by employing Afghan workers, construction firms and use local materials. This way they are able to earn an income to support their families. Another positive outcome is the fact that if the local people contribute to the building of their new infrastructure, country and way of life, they may protect, and respect the programs school and infrastructure that they built.
Another fact is the cost of fighting the drug war in America. It is estimated to cost ½ a trillion dollars annually. Think about the cost for the coalition forces that also spend massive amount of tax dollars on the drug problems in their nations. Roughly 90% of the world's heroin and opium are grown and manufactured in Afghanistan. Then the drugs are shipped to Europe, Canada, the USA and other Western countries. The profits from these drugs are used to fund the Taliban, Alkaid, and other terrorist activities, such as paying off government officials, buying provisions and weapons.
So in conclusion Coalition forces are fighting an enemy that they trained equipped to fight Russia <soviets> in the 1980's. So add insult to injury, during this present conflict, these enemies forces <terrorists> are paid for and funded by their own civilian population, every time our citizens buy opium or heroin. Our Coalition forces are fighting this war under the guise of protecting their civilian population. In fact these terror groups are funded through our own drug use. Talk about a messed up situation.
