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 eportedly,
a second 1,000 troops from the US 10th Mountain Division will join
the 1,000 soldiers from that unit already in Uzbekistan. The media
is reporting possible formation of a task force of troops from the
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the 160th Special Operations
Aviation Regiment — a powerful force of modern attack helicopters,
vehicles, and very well-trained soldiers — all designed for
aggressive action. And, there is talk of pulling soldiers from Bosnia
and Kosovo for redeployment to Afghanistan.
Since the Gulf
War there has been a heated debate between the airmen and the grunts
(soldiers and many Marines) about what you can and cannot do with
air power. The air-power advocates talk about strategic and operational
disintegration of the enemy, and about coercion (bomb them until
they leave). The land-power advocates talk about occupying territory
(boots on the ground) and conducting decisive operations (closing
with and killing the enemy). These are serious debates about how
to fight and win wars.
In Afghanistan,
boots are needed on the ground. Along with all the airpower they
can get. By boots on the ground, I mean conventional ground forces,
not special-operations forces — they are different, as I will
discuss below. There are a host of jobs for the conventional ground
forces to do, here are a few:
The Air Force bases in Uzbekistan, and where ever else they end
up, need more protection than the Air Force Security Police force
can provide. This is especially important given the reported movement
of Taliban troops toward the Uzbek/Afghan border. Modest attacks
on poorly defended air bases can wreck havoc.
They could help organize up the provision of humanitarian aid —
feeding stations, housing programs (tent cities), medical care,
police, and security. They could help rebuild simple infrastructure
needs (wells, houses with roofs come to mind). This could help in
the hearts and minds column as well providing assistance to desperate
people.
Conventional ground forces will be needed for operations in Afghanistan.
They are seize, hold, and exploit an airfield, town, or important
geographic point. They can block or other wise channel the Taliban
forces as assistance to the Northern Alliance forces. They can protect
an area while it is being searched. They can do the searching. They
can attack.
We need to demonstrate to our coalition partners that we really
are in this for the long haul and a good way of doing this is to
send in the troops. Ships come and go and are over the horizon (out
of sight) in any case. Airplanes these days mostly seem to engage
in drive-by shootings. Neither of these arguments is exactly accurate
or fair, but it is the expectations of the coalition partners that
count. They equate the deployment of conventional ground forces
with commitment and staying power.
Their expectations
are not necessarily wrong either. Conventional ground forces come
in pretty hefty packages — hundreds and hundreds of combat
soldiers and support troops, more hundreds of vehicles, tons and
tons of food, ammo, medical, and petroleum products, hundreds of
airlift sorties to get there and more to sustain the effort. Plus
additional air power to provide support. And a program to rotate
replacements in and out on some scheduled basis. That's thousands
of people, and their equipment and supplies, at risk of death and
destruction. Sending in conventional ground forces is a big deal.
The U.S. already
has ground forces in Afghanistan, special-operations forces. Numbers
are unknown, but likely not massive. They are a powerful force,
greatly respected and feared by the knowledgeable. But they are
not conventional ground forces. They want to operate in the shadows.
They don't want to be a visible presence. They are not there to
reassure allies in the ways we have been talking. They are here
today and gone tomorrow, or at least want to create that impression.
They are, as an aside, a very hi-tech force. They often get many
of the gizmos (GPS and satellite communications for example) well
before the conventional ground forces. They travel in extremely
sophisticated aircraft and "boats." But, they are not
conventional ground forces.
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