On Wednesday, I received an email from one of my former soldiers in the 101st in Afghanistan who wanted to know, if GEN McChrystal was fired (2) who was his replacement and (3) what would change in Afghanistan. My response was (1) his resignation was accepted, (2) GEN Petraeus would assume his responsibilities and (3) not much for you guys on the pointy end of the spear. For those on the hard right that suspected that GEN McChrystal was an Obama-ite and pushed for a completely restrictive ROE, don't expect the ROE to change. Hopefully, GEN Petraeus can be more influential in stopping the career-concerned commanders from enhancing the restrictions in order to eliminate the possibility of civilian casualties (zero defect mentality for career progression). For those on the hard left that suspected that GEN McChrystal was too hardcore to win a COIN based war, well, don't expect there to be any difference in how this is carried out. This is war, not tiddly-winks, and no matter how hard we try to protect civilians, they will get hurt. McChrystal and Petraeus were both committed to protecting the civilian population. FWIW, the plan for Afghanistan was just as much GEN David Petraeus' plan as it was GEN Stan McChrystal's... There will be staff changes and CENTCOM is probably turned upside down right now. There will be a difference in approach, diplomatically, from GEN Petraeus but I don't see it amounting to being much better than GEN McChrystal's efforts. Unless Eikenberry and Holbrooke either change their efforts or depart the AO, I don't see much difference in what to expect from GEN Petraeus...especially for the grunts. I highly recommend that you read Greyhawk's take on this. So, I ask you good people, what (if anything) do you expect to see change with GEN Petraeus taking the reigns in the AF-PAK region?
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/XJIzqY5INGc/so-whats-going-to-change-in-afghanistan.html
Posted
Jun 25 2010, 12:34 AM
by
BLACKFIVE