What would von Clausewitz say?
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 08, 2009 00:00
In our routine meeting yesterday, discussing the abysmal violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, someone asked a question: What would von Clausewitz do?
The reference was to Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian military theorist whose work "On War" remains a classic read in every military academy. The armchair theorists at the Daily News could produce no clear answer. But, as one editor said, "He probably would advise against answering a guerilla war with an Atari game."
Reading the news in today’s paper, including the plans new Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has to visit the region, our concern is fast growing that this is a conflagration fast spinning out of control and that once again, Turkey risks getting caught in the spun-off damage.
Just two weeks ago, we and other journalists were surprised when military Chief of Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ emphasized at a briefing the growing threats this war poses for Turkey, particularly in connection with Pakistan, a longtime ally. The general has far better access to intelligence from the region that we; his evident concern now makes far more sense. Fast-moving events are context for the dire scenarios he hinted at.
The Taliban’s role in northwestern Pakistan is now roughly analogous with the suzerainty they enjoyed before 2001 in Afghanistan. They run it. As of yesterday afternoon, fighting between Pakistani troops and the Taliban had driven 40,000 civilians from the region as nearly 1 million more sought means to flee. Reassurances that Pakistan nuclear armaments are safe from falling into terrorist hands fall flat. We are not reassured.
Then, just hours before American President Barack Obama was to meet in Washington with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts, errant fire from U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan apparently killed more than 100 civilians, one of the worst tragedies of the war to date. High-tech assaults, in some cases manned by "pilots" operating drones by satellite from a trailer in Las Vegas, Nevada, may well be a contributor. The Afghan public is outraged at their would-be liberators and yesterday one rock-throwing protest against the Americans was met with open gunfire from local security forces.
For years, we settled into daily images of horror in neighboring Iraq while Afghanistan was the "forgotten" war. Now Iraq’s agony appears to be fading from view as Afghanistan becomes the main nightmare. We have our doubts that $7.5 billion in U.S. development to Pakistan will bring much relief, nor much confidence that another 20,000 Western troops in Afghanistan will win back the hearts and minds of the public.
That NATO is soon to be headed by Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen, known mainly in the region for his horrible mishandling of the anti-Islamic 2006 "cartoon crisis," is just one more worry. Indeed. What would von Clausewitz say?
Reading the news in today’s paper, including the plans new Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has to visit the region, our concern is fast growing that this is a conflagration fast spinning out of control and that once again, Turkey risks getting caught in the spun-off damage.
Just two weeks ago, we and other journalists were surprised when military Chief of Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ emphasized at a briefing the growing threats this war poses for Turkey, particularly in connection with Pakistan, a longtime ally. The general has far better access to intelligence from the region that we; his evident concern now makes far more sense. Fast-moving events are context for the dire scenarios he hinted at.
The Taliban’s role in northwestern Pakistan is now roughly analogous with the suzerainty they enjoyed before 2001 in Afghanistan. They run it. As of yesterday afternoon, fighting between Pakistani troops and the Taliban had driven 40,000 civilians from the region as nearly 1 million more sought means to flee. Reassurances that Pakistan nuclear armaments are safe from falling into terrorist hands fall flat. We are not reassured.
Then, just hours before American President Barack Obama was to meet in Washington with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts, errant fire from U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan apparently killed more than 100 civilians, one of the worst tragedies of the war to date. High-tech assaults, in some cases manned by "pilots" operating drones by satellite from a trailer in Las Vegas, Nevada, may well be a contributor. The Afghan public is outraged at their would-be liberators and yesterday one rock-throwing protest against the Americans was met with open gunfire from local security forces.
For years, we settled into daily images of horror in neighboring Iraq while Afghanistan was the "forgotten" war. Now Iraq’s agony appears to be fading from view as Afghanistan becomes the main nightmare. We have our doubts that $7.5 billion in U.S. development to Pakistan will bring much relief, nor much confidence that another 20,000 Western troops in Afghanistan will win back the hearts and minds of the public.
That NATO is soon to be headed by Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen, known mainly in the region for his horrible mishandling of the anti-Islamic 2006 "cartoon crisis," is just one more worry. Indeed. What would von Clausewitz say?