Gen. Stanley McChrystal this week expressed a truth that military commanders know better than anyone: "A political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome," he told the Financial Times. The problem is getting to that political settlement in a way that the combatants find acceptable. This can take years, even decades. The United States is now in its ninth year of fighting Muslim extremists around the world. People sometimes wonder whether America has learned anything during this painful time, or whether we are condemned to keep digging deeper holes for ourselves. Certainly, we're still digging in Afghanistan, where McChrystal, the U.S. commander there, believes that an acceptable political settlement won't be possible unless we squeeze the Taliban harder. I think he's right about that.
But I sense there's a growing recognition, especially within the U.S. military, that America has to get out of the business of fighting expeditionary wars every time a new flash point erupts with al-Qaeda. The Pentagon has adopted this proxy strategy of training "friendly" countries (meaning ones that share with us the enemy of Islamic extremism) from North Africa to the Philippines. This "partnership" approach hasn't been articulated by the Obama administration as a formal strategy, and it doesn't get much media coverage. But it's worth a careful look, because it may offer the best path toward a world where the United States isn't always operating as an anti-terrorist Robocop...
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Comments
The article "Military Partnership May Be Best Path to Peace" is on target. I feel the article implies heavily that the partnership should focus on the tactical side but in my opinion is should be distributed across all levels. I have come to appreciate and value the integration of not only other U.S. armed services and agencies but that of our international students. Two points I would like to make: First, this partnership must be incorporated at the operational and strategic level in greater numbers and varied nations. Second, education is the key. We must not only continue but rather expand our academic exchanges with one another. We must figure out a way to tackle the challenge of expanding our partnership not only from the user level but from all levels. Terrorism is not one nations fight but many, those that have experienced it already and those that will in the future. So it is incumbent that we begin as a world to prepare and support one another to face this adversary, which we can better achieve through an expanded partnership. Just my opinion.