following my instincts. i didn t see a clarity on president trump s strategy. it was a four year of period which we didn t have clarity to ourselves or the people we were fighting against or fighting with. the trump administration would strike a historic deal with the taliban that excluded those the u.s. had been fighting alongside 20 years the afghan government. while many have argued the u.s. should have negotiated with the taliban years earlier, trump s deal may very well set the stage for both america s ultimate withdrawal and the taliban s take over. i inherited the deal president trump negotiated with the taliban. under his agreement, u.s. forces will be out of afghanistan by
al-qaeda and afghanistan and prevent their return to either country in the future. that s a cause that could not be more just. a just cause complete with a new strategy and a new commander. general stanley mccrystal. he didn t talk in that mission statement much about if afghanistan is unstable and ungovernmentable and all. al-qaeda is not good enough of that success. so it became an implied requirement that says you got to create a sovereign afghanistan which could defend its own border and prevent the reemergence of al-qaeda safe haven inside. we have a new strategy, a new
people say counter insurgence does not work. i disagree. we did counter insurgence in world war ii. we did it after the armatice. i think rural afghanistan, which is most of afghanistan does not work. the dissatisfaction with the government was a greater factor than fear of the taliban. they may dispense hard justice. the u.s. counter insurgency strategy in afghanistan failed. we now know there were many saw it failing as a strategy in realtime.
i am army cam fptain and i served in afghanistan. we need to get to the people first before the taliban and we need to win their hearts and minds d that s how we are going to win this war. i thought okay, that was a unique strategy. i was in the problem is you show up with your team of 18 to 19 year olds, gung-ho patriots and we are going to drink some chai tea and we ll build
in 2006, troops trying to counter insurgency on their own. the u.s. updated counter insurgency guidance. a strategy that focused on less conventional warfare and more on securing the support of the population, ensuring aids and infrastructure and trying to win the trust of the people. you literally working on the books, the idea of naasian building. did it work in afghanistan? it did work, during the period we did have the resources to do that. the problem is in a situation like afghanistan, we do have to be prevailing if you will in the security realm because that s the foundation that allows you to do all of these other tasks.