That's the advice Thomas Johnson and M. Chris Mason feel we should follow in Afghanistan. They feel that the military is repeating the mistakes of the Vietnam War by trying to fight the war while being based in urban centers. Russia tried it and failed. Afghanistan has really had only one effective national government and that was due to the ferocity of the "Iron Emir", a madman who built towers using the skulls of those opposed him.
The power is in the districts, which are usually controlled by a single tribe. That's where the Taliban operate. Johnson and Mason argue that the districts may not want Western control, but they also do not want to be controlled by the Taliban, which espouses a fanatical Islam and does not respect the elders.
The authors propose that district teams be established and actually reside in the districts. The team would be a mix of NATO troops, Afghan troops and a reconstruction team. If we don't do something like this, it will be Vietnam all over again - we'd win the big battles but lose the war.
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