Bobzhuman

Mike Walker, Col USMC (retired) ....

All,

The tragic consequences over the acts by three or four individuals over the last few weeks in Afghanistan are both sobering and discouraging. 

It makes me think back on the opening of Kipling's poem If:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too; 

It is my argument that now is a time to keep our heads. A few months ago I spoke or, more correctly, listened to about a dozen Marines who are deploying to Afghanistan as I write. They ranged in rank from Lieutenant Colonel to Lance Corporal. 

Let me begin by stating that the Marines serving today as a group are more fit, better trained, equipped, led and motivated than at any time since I put on the eagle, globe and anchor in the late 1970's. They are legitimate heirs to the accomplishments of the Marines of the "Greatest Generation" or any other. 

The Marines were universally confident in their mission and their ability to achieve it. This was all the more admirable as they were bound for the last major stronghold of the Taliban remaining in Afghanistan, an area we had never challenged, an area that has remained under Taliban control since before 9/11.

Now let us address three facts. 

1. The Afghans who are allied with us share their roots with the Mujahideen that defeated the Soviets.

The Soviets were defeated by a coalition of fighters known as the Peshawar Seven (or P7):

Afghan National Liberation Front (Karzai was a senior leader)           

Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) – Led by Hekmatyar

Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan           

Jamat-i-Islami (Tajik) Led by Rabbani/Ahmed Shah Massoud           

National Islamic Front of Afghanistan           

Hezb-e-Islami Khalis (HIK) Led by Haqqani AKA "The Haqqani Network"

Islamic Revolutionary Movement 

Here are the four P7 groups that are part of the current government in Afghanistan and fighting with us in 2012:

Afghan National Liberation Front (Karzai's old group)           

Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan           

Jamat-i-Islami       

National Islamic Front of Afghanistan           

Here is only P7 group that is fighting against us: Hezb-e-Islami Khalis (HIK) Led by Haqqani

Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) – Led by a Hekmatyar has split from the Taliban but has not agreed to join with the Afghan Government or work with the Coalition Forces. Peace talks with HIG are currently underway.

That leaves one remaining P7 member: The Islamic Revolutionary Movement. 

The group fell apart after the war. Some of the members joined the government as an opposition party, the Islamic and National Revolutionary Movement of Afghanistan. More importantly, one of its combat leaders, Mullah Omar went his own way and formed the Taliban a number of years after the war with the Soviets was over in 1994.

2. The Taliban did not defeat the Soviets. 

They did not even exist during the war. The mujahideen of the P7 defeated the Soviets and the overwhelming majority of those groups are with us in Afghanistan.

3. The Afghans we are allied with in the fight are succeeding while the Taliban are failing.

When the Soviets entered Afghanistan in 1979, they had the initial support of an Afghan military of some 90,000 men. The mujahideen had to start from scratch. When the Soviets called it quits in 1989, the number soldiers in the Afghan army had fallen to about 30,000. The numbers serving with the P7 Mujahideen had risen to over 200,000.

When the Coalition entered Afghanistan in 2001, the size of the Taliban army was about 45,000 including 055 Brigade which was commanded by Usama bin Laden and composed of al Qaeda fighters. The new Afghan army had to start virtually from scratch. Today, the Taliban is estimated to be at around 15,000 fighters while the 055 Brigade was completely destroyed. The Afghan Army is now over 130,000 strong.

What we have seen is a complete reversal of what happened when the Soviets entered Afghanistan.

When the Soviets entered, the Afghan mujahideen grew is size and strength while the pro-Soviet Afghan forces became weaker and weaker. 

Today, with the Coalition in Afghanistan, the Taliban are now much weaker than they were in 2001 while the Afghan Army has grown tremendously in size and strength compared to where they were in 2001.

Semper Fi,

Mike