Toronto Star October 30, 2001
Is U.S. losing the battle?
By Linda Diebel
The Pentagon worked hard yesterday to dispel the growing sense that the United States is losing the war in Afghanistan. "We are pretty much on our plan. We are in the driver's seat," said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers, facing tough questions about why the three-week old bombing campaign hasn't produced results the Pentagon itself led the public to believe were just around the corner.
Two weeks ago, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Afghanistan was running out of targets and that the forces of Afghanistan's Taliban regime had been "eviscerated" by the bombing campaign. Yesterday, Myers and Rumsfeld entered the fourth week of the campaign after a dismal few days in which nothing seemed to go right for the U.S.-led coalition against prime suspect Osama bin Laden and his terrorist Al Qaeda network.
There has been an abundance of bad news. A top U.S. military official said the Taliban is much tougher than expected; anti-Taliban forces fell back in their attempt to capture the Mazar-e Sharif airfield in the north; and a CIA-supported Afghan resistance leader was executed by the Taliban after a disastrous mission into southern Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Yesterday, Rumsfeld repeatedly stressed that Americans need to have patience. He pointed out that bombing raids have killed some leaders of the Al Qaeda network, although not the most senior ones. He said three weeks of bombing have taken their toll on the Taliban and Al Qaeda and that people "ought to step back and think, "Well, three weeks, it's not bad to have accomplished" air supremacy over Afghanistan.
From the White House Bush, too, appealed for patience. "I am pleased with the progress we're making and I'm pleased with the fact the American people are patient. They understand it's going to take a while to achieve our objective and I appreciate that patience."
But while Myers yesterday said the United States Central Command, operating out of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., is setting the pace of the war, military experts have increasing doubts about the campaign and who is - or isn't - running it.
They see a war shaping up in which the highest levels of the U.S. government and military told the public it would be long and ugly, but didn't really believe it themselves.
If they had, said military analyst John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, then Navy Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem would never have said last week of the Taliban: "I'm a bit surprised at how doggedly they're hanging on to power."
"Somebody, somewhere appears to have underestimated the Taliban resistance," said Pike, who thinks the public should brace itself. "I am perfectly prepared to believe there could be more terrorist attacks against the United States, with people asking: 'How come we haven't won the war yet?"'
The campaign is being hampered, according to experts, by competing aims between a Pentagon trying to win a war and a state department trying to hold together a coalition which includes, among other leaders, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf who wants the bombing to stop before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in mid-November. As well, there are competing interests within the U.S. military and intelligence networks, all of them apparently creating confusion over control and command.
"It's unclear who's in charge," said Pike, of the three players in the military war against terrorism.
The two defence department players are Central Command (CENTCOM), operating out of MacDill and controlling elements of the war from bombing units to the 10th Mountain Division in neighbouring Uzbekistan; and Special Operations, in charge of Special Ops forces, including Navy SEALS, Green Berets and Army Rangers. Special Ops, he said, should be reporting directly to Bush and Rumsfeld, without having to go through CENTCOM.
Muddying the waters, is the third player, the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which covers clandestine operations and was at the helm of Afghan leader Abdul Haq's doomed foray into Afghanistan last week. "The U.S. hung him out to dry," his friend and associate James Ritchie, a Chicago millionaire told the Washington Post, after Haq was taken prisoner and executed by the Taliban while trying to stir up resistance among southern Pashtun leaders.
At the Army War College, Terry Deibel, who teaches national security strategy, said the public should listen to Bush and Rumseld. "For this kind of enemy, particularly given the conditions of Afghanistan, it is very likely that this will be a battle that will go on for years."
Copyright 2001 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
