19 true things generals can't say in public about the Afghan war: A helpful primer

As a public service, Best
Defense is offering this primer for generals on their way to Afghanistan.

Here is a list of 19 things that many insiders and veterans
of Afghanistan agree to be true about the war there, but that generals
can't say in
public. So, general, read this now and believe it later-but keep your lip
zipped. Maybe even keep a printout in your wallet and review before interviews.

My list of things to remember I can't say

Pakistan
is now an enemy of the United States.




We
don't know why we are here, what we are fighting for, or how to know if we are
winning.




The
strategy is to fight, talk, and build. But we're withdrawing the fighters, the
Taliban won't talk, and the builders are corrupt. 




Karzai's
family is especially corrupt.




We
want President Karzai gone but we don't have a Pushtun successor handy.




But
the problem isn't corruption, it is which corrupt people are getting the
dollars. We have to help corruption be more fair.




Another
thing we'll never stop here is the drug traffic, so the counternarcotics
mission is probably a waste of time and resources that just alienates a swath
of Afghans.




Making
this a NATO mission hurt, not helped. Most NATO countries are just going
through the motions in Afghanistan as the price necessary to keep the US in
Europe




Yes,
the exit deadline is killing us.




Even
if you got a deal with the Taliban, it wouldn't end the fighting.




The
Taliban may be willing to fight forever. We are not.




Yes,
we are funding the Taliban, but hey, there's no way to stop it, because the
truck companies bringing goods from Pakistan and up the highway across Afghanistan
have to pay off the Taliban. So yeah, your tax dollars are helping Mullah Omar
and his buddies. Welcome to the neighborhood.




Even
non-Taliban Afghans don't much like us.




Afghans
didn't get the memo about all our successes, so they are positioning themselves
for the post-American civil war .




And
they're not the only ones getting ready. The future of Afghanistan is probably
evolving up north now as the Indians, Russians and Pakistanis jockey with old
Northern Alliance types. Interestingly, we're paying more and getting less than
any other player.




Speaking
of positioning for the post-American civil war, why would the Pakistanis sell
out their best proxy shock troops now?




The
ANA and ANP could break the day after we leave the country.




We
are ignoring the advisory effort and fighting the "big war" with
American troops, just as we did in Vietnam. And the U.S. military won't act any
differently until and work with the Afghan forces seriously until when American
politicians significantly draw down U.S. forces in country-when it may be too
damn late.




The
situation American faces in Afghanistan is similar to the one it faced in
Vietnam during the Nixon presidency: A desire a leave and turn over the war to
our local allies, combined with the realization that our allies may still lose,
and the loss will be viewed as a U.S. defeat anyway.

Thanks to several people who contributed to
this, from California to Kunar and back to DC, and whose names must not be
mentioned! You know who you are. The rest of you, look at the guy sitting to
your right.