Troop Surge in Afghanistan Continues before 2009 Afghan Elections
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his delegation depart from Cornwallis Park in Nova Scotia, Canada, after attending discussions on the approach to counter-insurgency as part of Afghanistan’s Regional Command South, Nov. 21, 2008. DoD photo by Air Force Tech Sgt. Jerry Morrison
As November comes to a close, here’s a look at the upcoming elections in Afghanistan in 2009. The US and other countries have increased the number of troops and equipment and still call for the rest of the world to pitch in to try to make sure the elections go as smoothly as possible for the changing country.
The Taliban is still on the run using guerilla and terrorist tactics, but every day that passes, Afghanistan comes a little closer to healing the damage that’s happened in that country over the years, for hundreds of years actually. By increasing their presence in the country, coalition forces are doing a great thing in trying to bolster a new Afghanistan that stands for freedom.
In Canada on Friday, November 21, 2008, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he was confident that the troop surge in Afghanistan would help the coming elections in that country go smoothly. The secretary spent the day at a former Canadian military base conferring with defense ministers from Canada, Australia, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Romania and the United Kingdom about the situation in Afghanistan.
“All of us agree that one of our most important, and maybe the most important, objective for us in 2009 in Afghanistan is a successful election,” Gates said.
“We would like to get some of those additional brigade combat teams into Afghanistan before the election so they can make a contribution to greater security,” he said. “But we are still working on that and we have not made any final decisions about the timing.”
“I think that the prospects for being able to have these elections successfully are good,” he said. “I think that the security situation will be under enough control to allow the election to take place.”
According to Gates, the 20,000-troop increase in Afghanistan over the past 18 months by the United States and its allies is an important step in confronting what he called “significant challenges” in Afghanistan.
Gates emphasized that Afghanistan isn’t as bad as some say it is. According to him, the Taliban holds no land in Afghanistan and loses every time it comes into contact with coalition forces,. “And so the notion that things are out of control in Afghanistan or that we are sliding toward a disaster, I think, is far too pessimistic,” he said.
“We need to remember that this is Afghanistan’s war against a threat to a freely elected Afghan government,” he told reporters on the return flight to Washington. “We are there to help them take on that threat. This is not our war, necessarily.”
While the United States doesn’t want the Taliban, al Qaeda or other insurgents to regain a foothold in Afghanistan, “at the end of the day, it has got to be Afghanistan’s war for its own people,” Gates said.
“So I think the key is, ‘How do we reverse the trends in the last couple years or so, in terms of rising violence, and create a better security environment in which economic development [and] civic development can take place?’” he said.
Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, who hosted the meeting, said, “This is about reinforcement, not replacement. This is about continuing in a joint UN-backed, NATO-led effort.”
MacKay reiterated the call for more nations to contribute to the mission, emphasizing that those supporting RC-South are carrying “a disproportionate share of the load” in that region of the country. He encouraged other NATO countries to “examine their ability to do more.”
“Other countries should be under no illusion,” MacKay said. “We are still asking for them to pick up the slack and share the burden.”
How will elections go in Afghanistan in 2009? Time will only tell, but it appears to me that the US and coalition forces are doing what they can to make sure the process goes as well as it can in a country that’s still struggling to get on its feet as a nation. It would be nice if more countries stepped up to the plate and helped a fledgling democracy bloom, but if they don’t the coalition forces will do all the can to help the people of Afghanistan get through the election and begin to come together as a country. Stay tuned for more good (or at least not so bad) news from Afghanistan.
This is Sgt. Stryker signing out.
