President Obama has said that 17,000 troops are soon to be deployed (or redeployed from Iraq) to Afghanistan, with an additional 4,000 to follow shortly. With the situation on the border with Pakistan deteriorating on a weekly basis, the importance of using the new troops wisely cannot be understated. More bases are needed in areas not currently under complete Coalition control. I am aware that this policy may sound a bit like something from Vietnam, but hear it out.
First, one of the biggest problems the Coalition is encountering is getting Taliban and Al- Qaida fighters to engage them in open combat for an extended period of time. As it is, the enemy fighters have safe havens far enough in Pakistan territory as to make them largely untraceable (except in the case of Predator strikes). But, if there were new bases closer to the Pakistani border, with smaller distances between them and large numbers of troops stationed at each one, then operations undertaken by enemy combatants becomes much tougher. With the smaller distances between each base and between the bases and the border, air cover and reconnaissance becomes much more effective. Artillery and mortar strikes are more likely to hit do damage due to the reliability and availability of real time intelligence on enemy locations. The presence of so many “fresh” targets will undoubtedly bring increased violence at first, but what makes an insurgency effective is its avoidance of prolonged contact with the enemy. This will lead to higher casualties, which any insurgency cannot sustain.
