The Road Out of Afghanistan: Communication Strategies to Win the War

The notion that we must stay indefinitely in Afghanistan with our Armed Forces is to be ignorant of the situation in the world. Cultural values and ideologies are extremely different around the globe, and wars have shown this time and time again. Armies can't destroy ideas only the people can; therefore, there is only one way to end this war. Use the Afghanistan cultural values for our benefit. We must adopt their way of life, which is radically different then our own, but is necessary to win a war in their country. Why did it only take weeks to topple the Taliban in late 2001? Because the CIA covertly turned the people who really controlled Afghanistan, the tribal elders. They did this with methods that would make most Americans cringed, but it worked. They used power, the only type the Afghans responded to, brute force. If a tribal leader would not cooperate with them he would be killed, usually in front of other tribes to show what would happen if you didn't side with the Americans. It was horrible, but it worked. Now the tables have turned, the enemy is now using the same tactics against us.

We have become weak with great numbers and different policies, soldiers all over the battlefield feel like they are fighting with one hand tied behind their back. We must remove large combat forces, because they are targets that are just getting our boys killed in IED attacks. Bring back the elite forces that can use America's true power again. This is the only communication strategy they understand. We can't make friends with the Afghan people when they have a gun of the Taliban pointed at them and their families for helping you. This is why the Taliban has come back and is killing us in record numbers. Let the elite members stay and help the newly trained forces to eliminate tribal elders who do not support us and weed out the true enemy.