Summary: One Year of the "War on Terror" in Afghanistan
"Old" War fought with New Weapons?
Walter Feichtinger
After a brief introduction outlining the face of modern terrorism, the author puts forth three theories, before analyzing the war on terror in Afghanistan. In his conclusion he finds his theories verified, which say that: (a) though the war in Afghanistan followed the wellknown pattern, the employment of new technologies lent a new quality to it, (b) an air war alone without troops on the ground will not guarantee success, and (c) a coherent overall strategy and a longterm commitment in Afghanistan will be mandatory.
Operation Enduring Freedom aimed at destroying the Al Qaida network and change the regime in Afghanistan. To reach these goals, a broad alliance was formed, which did, however, not result in coalition warfare, since Washington did not want to be tied down in its freedom of action. The operation proceeded in three phases, the first of which covered the period from the deployment of troops till the fall of the Taliban Regime in mid-December 2001. This phase was immediately followed by still ongoing ground operations aimed at destroying remnant resistance and terrorist cells. Phase III, which will be a longterm project, covers the stabilization of the new Afghan government, the establishment of Afghan forces, battling warlords, and providing assistance.
Early into phase I it became evident that air strikes alone would not win the day. For that reason the USA sought, and found, allies within the Northern Alliance to conduct ground operations with US air support, which eventually led to the seizure Kabul. It was not until Phase II that US ground troops were deployed. At the same time international deployment of security forces to Kabul got underway, primarily carried by the European allies.
American operations strictly followed the force protection principle. Enduring Freedom was a prime example of satellite supported command and control covering long distances, rapid power projection, technological improvement of weapons systems, and the extension of the operations spectrum through more accurate target information. As the operation went on, however, technological superiority turned out to be of less importance, as it could not compensate for the commitment of highly motivated enemy fighters who knew the terrain.
Another problem turned out to be, that ground operations, for a sustained period of time, had to rely on Special Operations Forces that, because of their operation profile, were lacking elsewhere. In the future the employment of reliable local forces should bring relief in that respect. Finally, in order to stabilize Afghanistan and forestall new flashpoints of the conflict, the presence of international troops will be needed for a long period of time.
Ihre Meinung/your opinion/votre opinion:
