THE MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM.

This blog has called on President Obama to set aside all of his options and deal with the question of additional troops first, as requested by a man that he himself appointed to spearhead the war in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. After that would come the training phase for a strong Afghan military, based on the progress that would result from the beating back and defeating the Taliban onslaught, which was encouraging the insurgency.

The main strategy of the Taliban was to maintain strongholds in several parts of the country, and be able to force the United States advancements into retreat, giving the false notion that the counterinsurgency plan or any part of it was not working. It was a very simple strategy, but it would surely give the impression that they were winning. They have nothing else to consider, but to follow that basic plan; whilst the allied troops were confronted with problems of short handedness of soldiers and equipment, and attempting to clean up the corruption in the Afghan governance all at the same time.

Besides, they, the Taliban and their destructive ally, Al Qaeda, knew that the support for the war at home was fading, particularly when the allied troops suffered more casualties each month. The solution of that would be to get the situation reversed, by demoralizing the militants, using civilian areas that have been captured by the allied forces to be operable in social and economic ways. They would then be forced to "hole" themselves by taking up residency in the mountains, and their leaders would have a great deal of difficulty in communicating any plots hatched to confuse both their own people and the U.S. and allied forces.

At the same time, the main cities would have large civilian populations that would be under the protection of the allied forces, and be able to have some normalcy to flourish economically, with progress in business and functioning institutions, such as banking and trading organizations, being visible.

It would be these areas that the Afghan soldiers could be initially trained to replace U.S. and allied forces; and from that point on, further training could be given them to expand and be able to protect the countryside as well.

The Situation Room in the White House might have a whole lot of solutions; however, they could not all be workable to suit the war in Afghanistan; and besides that, America and its allies have resolved to be in that country, in the long haul, for their own security, and therefore, the coming back of troops must not be the first thing on their minds. They should be able to plan far into the future for the insurgency to be completely subdued before deciding on any troop withdrawals. With all due respect, the main preoccupation of the armed forces was to fight a war; and that was to rattle down the enemy into accepting defeat. That should be the only underlying factor for any decisions made, and not from any contentious arguments.

All Americans want the men and women in uniform of the U.S. armed forces to come home to their families and friends; but they must be allowed to complete their assignment, and to achieve the victory, upon which world peace and the co-existence of all humanity hinges.