Small Wars Journal

Perspectives on Reconciliation Options in Afghanistan

Tue, 07/27/2010 - 4:41pm
Perspectives on Reconciliation Options in Afghanistan - U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Tuesday, July 27, 2010.

Senator John Kerry - Download Statement

Senator Richard Lugar - Download Statement

The Honorable Ryan C. Crocker -- Download Testimony

Ms. Zainab Salbi - Download Testimony

Dr. David Kilcullen - Download Testimony

Security Experts Urge Reconciliation with Insurgents -- CNN News.

Key U.S. Senator Downplays Afghan War Documents Leak - Cindy Saine, Voice of America.

... A former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, said a long-term counterinsurgency strategy is needed in Afghanistan, but that it requires time and patience - two things, he said, that are in short supply in America. "Our friends are unsure of our commitment and hedge their bets; our enemies think they can outlast us. We need to make it clear to both that our determination is equal to theirs," he said.

David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency analyst at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said it is important for Afghan reconciliation to try to include rank and file members of the Taliban. He also said it would be wise to try to negotiate from a position of strength. Kilcullen added that international and Afghan forces need a big, tactical hit on the Taliban. "We need to kill a lot of Taliban, and we need to disrupt their organization. And it is unpleasant, but it is just unavoidable. You have to do that kind of damage to a terrorist organization before it becomes —to talk," he said. Kilcullen said history shows that it is very difficult to defeat a counterinsurgency and that time and patience are essential.

Senator Kerry expressed some frustration with the lack of progress after almost 10 years of U.S. operations in Afghanistan, saying he believes Afghans need to realize that it is their fight, and that the American people are not —to have combat troops in the country indefinitely...

More at Voice of America.