US Afghanistan counter-insurgency strategy looks like spaghetti on this map

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from Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/02/2140281.aspx


According to an unclassified military document from the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff obtained by NBC News, the COIN strategy has a basic goal. The document says to successfully conduct a counterinsurgency, U.S. and NATO forces "must accomplish three tasks simultaneously":

"Influence insurgent-minded individuals to adopt a neutral disposition."

"Influence neutral-minded individuals to adopt a supportive disposition."

"Retain supportive individuals."

In other words, COIN’s goal is to convince militants to stop fighting and to persuade Afghans sitting on the fence – those unsure whether to back the Taliban or President Hamid Karzai’s government – to throw their support behind the U.S.-backed government and its security forces.

Sounds simple …
It sounds simple. But an attempt to visualize the strategy reveals how immensely complicated it is for U.S. forces to accomplish.

Below is the military’s schematic, a map of the counter insurgency strategy, that shows what U.S. troops hope to accomplish in Afghanistan.



:crazy:

full size maps: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/Afghanistan_Dynamic_Planning.pdf

[tekisui]

1. Looks easy enough. That surely won't take longer than 18 months.

:crazy:

[bigtree]

5. the plan

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Add kerosene, boil for 18 months, and VOILA!, the pottery barn is gone to be replaced by monument

to the dead.

[bigtree]

6. .

:(

[leftstreet]

3. That makes me dizzy n/t

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7. I know

Looks just like what I'd expect from this plan. Dizzying.

[Flaneur]

4. This should be easy.

[berni_mccoy]

8. Two things... it is not a military document (consulting group logo clearly displayed)

and just because a diagram is complex does not imply that it has any correlation to the problem.

Republicans are fond of drawing up complex graphs, like this one on healthcare:

[bigtree]

14. you didn't read the article did you?

According to an unclassified military document from the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff obtained by NBC News

[damntexdem]

9. I like spaghetti.

Make mine with pesto, please.

[bigtree]

15. this one comes with the red sauce

[NNN0LHI]

10. Reminds me of one of these

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. This is the exact same thing that Alexander the Great did and look what happened to him.

All his elephants froze before he sacked Gaul.

[bridgit]

12. That is one of the most bogus flow charts I have ever seen; truly the product...

of cluttered minds that have 'thought' right past (and are proud of it) what is more likely going on - which makes them the last people to be planning anything in the ME

[StarfarerBill]

13. Jeezum-crow. It'll take longer than 18 months just for them to figure out this travesty.

It'd make Rube Goldberg's head explode.

:wow:

[Blackhatjack]

16. Someone once said you have to plan for success... well that is one heck of a plan

I tried reading it at the link where individual sections are broken out for clearer understanding, and I must say in small enough pieces it seems logical enough. But put it all together into a coherent plan represented by a flow chart, and it is beyond comprehension.

How do you think commanders in the field are going to implement something like this?

Winning plans are simple enough for everyone to understand, and have plenty of details for implementation.