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knew the Marines had to get into this one. The Halls of Montezuma,
the shores of Tripoli, the slopes of Suribachi, now the plains of
Afghanistan. About 500 Marines from the 15th and 26th Marine Expeditionary
Units landed by helicopters near Kandahar to establish a Forward
Operating Base (FOB) deep inside enemy territory, and in the heart
of the spiritual home of the Taliban. The boldness of the move fits
the Marine image. I worked for the Marines for two years and observed
— indeed was immersed in — the spirit of relaxed competence
and firm self-assuredness that pervades all ranks in the smallest
of our armed services. One quickly learns that the "Devil Dogs"
are proud of their hard-earned moniker and willing to reconfirm
its essential truth whenever duty calls. So when you have a place
like Afghanistan, famous for its warriors, the men who defeated
the Soviet Union, legendary victors over all comers (which, like
many legends, is not quite true), the country everyone warns never
to put troops on the ground in or face the consequences — to
the Marines that is an engraved invitation begging for an RSVP.
The FOB will
serve a number of important purposes leading towards the endgame
in this phase of the war on terror. It has a crude airstrip —
built by a wealthy Arab to support his hunting lodge (aptly now
our hunting lodge) — and can act as a staging and support
base, supplying fuel and ammunition for aircraft, particularly helicopters,
flying missions in Afghanistan. The Marines may also give fire support
to the anti-Taliban forces — Northern Alliance and Pashtun
— as they prosecute the siege of Kandahar. This was evidenced
by a reported attack Monday by Marine Cobra gunships on a Taliban
armored column with devastating results. Secretary Rumsfeld pointed
out that the Marines' mission is not to take Kandahar, and they
probably couldn't with such a small force, but the Marine Corps
has been the lead service in developing new concepts in urban warfare
and they may choose to give some of their proposals a field test
as part of their support function. Ultimately the base will serve
as a launching point for strikes in and around Kandahar as the Taliban
fronts begin to collapse and the enemy attempts to escape. Having
a staging base close to the action increases operational flexibility
and gives commanders greater options. Our forces will be able to
react much more quickly from 50 miles outside the city than they
would from ships in the Arabian sea, which will be a critically
important factor in apprehending leadership targets, particularly
Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar if they are in that area.
Russian Airborne
Commander Georgy Shpak, who commanded the Soviet 345th separate
paratrooper regiment in Afghanistan from 1980 to 1982, cautioned
that the Taliban might begin guerrilla attacks against the in-country
troops which could stall the antiterror campaign. "The civil
war may come up with a bang," he warned. The Soviet experience
in Afghanistan is a cautionary tale not to be ignored, but it is
also worth noting that the current situation is a reversal of the
predicament the Red Army faced. During their war, the Russians controlled
the cities and the mujahedeen the countryside. Today the
Taliban are holed up in cities and the Americans are in the hinterland.
The mujahedeen in the 1980s rarely deviated from guerrilla
tactics, and when they fought battles conventionally — when
they stood up to the Red Army instead of fleeing — they were
decisively beaten. The Taliban have yet to begin a guerrilla phase,
and been trying throughout the war to fight a conventional struggle
against a Northern Alliance force backed by overwhelming allied
airpower — and in the process they are being destroyed piecemeal.
Ironically, the unconventional war has been fought primarily by
the allies, relying on special operations forces fighting guerrilla-style
hit-and-run attacks, and by all reports meeting with remarkable
success.
But having
a stationary target, the Taliban may choose to strike. It is a tempting
objective — perhaps by design. In fact the United States may
be hoping the Taliban will mount an attack. The U.S. may
be employing the principle of strategic offense/tactical defense.
This ancient doctrine is based on the recognition that the defense
is the stronger art of war. In practice, one takes a piece of ground
the foe can't live without, then defends it. The FOB is apparently
located in the open ground somewhere to the south of Kandahar, probably
along the lines of communication (and escape) to Taliban-friendly
tribal areas in Pakistan. Visibility and fields of fire are unlimited,
and cover for an attacking force is minimal. If the Taliban massed
to launch an assault, or to try to breakout to the south, they would
run headlong into the teeth of dug-in, well-supported Marines, and
be annihilated from the ground and air. The American presence thus
presents the Taliban with two unsatisfactory alternatives —
attack and be destroyed, or dig in at Kandahar and be bombed and
starved into submission.
The entire
al Qaeda/Taliban strategy in this war was predicated on U.S. risk
aversion. They never expected the Americans would place heavy forces
on the ground inside Afghanistan, or that it would be accomplished
with the cooperation of Afghans. They viewed the United States as
indecisive and cowardly. If Westerners did manage to muster the
will to get to Afghanistan, the locals would unite against the heathen
invaders, as they had against the Soviets. But none of this came
to pass. The allies have acted decisively, and the Taliban found
that it was their friends in al Qaeda who were perceived as the
invaders. Allied commanders have proceeded methodically, avoiding
inordinate risk, utilizing local forces when possible, special forces
when needed, and have now chosen to seize terrain and establish
an operational presence. The move has both military importance and
symbolic resonance. It is both an expression of confidence in the
course of the struggle and a message to the Taliban and any other
potential foe who might be watching that the United States is willing
to bring the war to their doorstep. "The Marines have landed,"
stated Brigadier General James Mattis, commander of the attack task
force, "and we now own a piece of Afghanistan."
Ooh-rah!
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