Memo to Obama: Listen to Jim Gant or Risk Losing Afghan War
By James Gordon Meek
Green Beret hero Maj. Jim Gant is the author of a brilliant new strategy for how to succeed in the Afghan War now entering its ninth year, “One Tribe At A Time.”
Before making major decisions on whether to escalate the war by adding 20-40,000 more G.I.s to the fight, President Obama and his war council ought to read every word of the common sense arguments made by Gant (at left in eastern Afghanistan disguised as a Pashtun warrior).
Laid out in 50 pages of plain English that won’t give you a headache, Gant’s proposal hinges on the idea that it’s not important how many troops are deployed - it’s how you use them.
The Silver Star recipient's strategy shows the kind of street smarts desperately needed in the White House brainstorming sessions.
Gant's advice? Field American “tribal engagement teams” to live with - and fight alongside - Pashtun tribesmen, who dominate southern and eastern Afghanistan and have little faith in, or loyalty to, the government in Kabul. Their centuries-old tribal code of honor, justice and revenge, called Pashtunwali, is the only system of governance they need - and it can help us defeat the Taliban.
“Nothing else will work,” is Gant’s blunt bottom line.
The White House has yet to give the Special Forces officer a call. But we learned at the New York Daily News that top Pentagon brass are intrigued enough by this once obscure quiet warrior to give his big ideas a shot.
They have nothing to lose but a war.
U.S. and NATO commanders have never bought into tribal integration, much less the hardly-crazy concept that Gant envisions: handpicked Special Forces operators willing to live for years in one spot on the map and who become part of a local tribe as much as any outsider could hope for. Pashtun elders are often frustrated by the American faces that change every year.
“I will get on a helicopter tonight, armed with an AK-47 and 300 rounds of ammunition and put my life on the line and my strategy to the test - will you do the same?” Gant boldly challenges.
Please read my full post on the Daily News' Mouth of the Potomac Blog.
