If we outnumber them byu 12-1, why do we need more troops?

[PLC1]

Just wondering.

US Troops Outnumber Taliban 12-1

BRUSSELS -- There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory.

The Taliban rebels are estimated to number no more than 25,000. Ljubomir Stojadinovic, a military analyst and guerrilla warfare expert from Serbia, said that although McChrystal's reinforcements would lift the ratio to 20-1 or more, they would prove counterproductive.

"It's impossible to regain the initiative by introducing more foreign forces, which will only breed more resentment and more recruits for the enemy," he said. "The Soviets tried the exact same thing in Afghanistan in the 1980s with disastrous results."

Is it time to just declare victory and leave?

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

Re: If we outnumber them buy 12-1, why do we need more troops?

Excellent question...if our very own Military Advisers & Generals can't agree on HOW MANY, WHERE TO SEND THEM, WHAT PART OF THE MILITARY {Air Force/Army/National Guard/Navy/Marines} then why do some of these 'LESSOR THINKING' around here seem so fixated on the RUSH to send more warm bodies into the fray

Armchair quarterbacking at it's worst

And why...WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUPPLY MORE 'HUMAN' POWER...why aren't the other countries upping the ante for supplying the 'WARM BODIES' ???

 

[pocketfullofshells]

I can tell you

1. you dont know who they are...that makes there possible numbers far greater...when anyone could be one. You walk in a town of 1000, there are 25 in there....how many troops would you need to go threw the town? knowing that you have no idea who is looking to kill you...who is looking to help you, and who is looking to just run....and that guy you see with the ak...yea he could just be protecting himself ...so thats not even a sure thing.

2. even in a standard military attack...you want at least a 3 to 1 advantage over a enemy that has set up a defensive perimeter.

3. you have to protect evryone, and all the major areas....they only have to attack the selected ones they choose to attack. How any troops does it take to secure a town? Now how many does it take to send in to attack one building in that town....

 

[Hanno]

We should have just gone in and wrecked-up the proverbial joint there and in Iraq, and let whatever regime moved in, move in. Maybe Europe could take a look then, if not, let it be another terror state - we could have glassed 'em, left for 8 years, then went back and done it again in this amount of time as opposed to lingering.

Not that I advocate wars of aggression, but here we are, doing what we're doing, cities worth of people and capitol deployed, when we could be flipping through regimes 'till we find one we like, like someone flipping through the channels on TV and enjoying 5-year periods of relative peace in between while they rebuild.

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

I can tell you

1. you dont know who they are...that makes there possible numbers far greater...when anyone could be one. You walk in a town of 1000, there are 25 in there....how many troops would you need to go threw the town? knowing that you have no idea who is looking to kill you...who is looking to help you, and who is looking to just run....and that guy you see with the ak...yea he could just be protecting himself ...so thats not even a sure thing.

2. even in a standard military attack...you want at least a 3 to 1 advantage over a enemy that has set up a defensive perimeter.

3. you have to protect evryone, and all the major areas....they only have to attack the selected ones they choose to attack. How any troops does it take to secure a town? Now how many does it take to send in to attack one building in that town....

But isn't that the entire issue about the 'GAME PLAN'...our troops were not trained in any hand to hand combat techniques {the powers that be made that righteous decision at the War College after Vietnam...our soldiers will not be doing any hand to hand combat in the future} and yet here we are sending our National Guard/ARMY/Marines into house to house MP type of duty...pull them out at or before dark to return to the 'SAFE ZONE' and then do the same thing all over again in a different area only to allow the 'cockroaches/terrorists' the ability to change locations while our troops are back a the 'SAFE ZONE' and this cycle just keeps going around & around & around in a vicious circle!!!

 

[pocketfullofshells]

But isn't that the entire issue about the 'GAME PLAN'...our troops were not trained in any hand to hand combat techniques {the powers that be made that righteous decision at the War College after Vietnam...our soldiers will not be doing any hand to hand combat in the future} and yet here we are sending our National Guard/ARMY/Marines into house to house MP type of duty...pull them out at or before dark to return to the 'SAFE ZONE' and then do the same thing all over again in a different area only to allow the 'cockroaches/terrorists' the ability to change locations while our troops are back a the 'SAFE ZONE' and this cycle just keeps going around & around & around in a vicious circle!!!

what are you talking about? The Al Qaeda and Taliban troops are not using hand to hand fighting in any major way...also yes our troops do alto of training for it.

 

[ASPCA4EVER]

what are you talking about? The Al Qaeda and Taliban troops are not using hand to hand fighting in any major way...also yes our troops do alto of training for it.

No...the terrorists set up during the night when our troops are being pulled back to base camp and then our troops have to cover the same ground over & over & over again.

According to the People that I know who were & have attended the War College for the past 25 years, the hand to hand option was taken off of the training exercises/maneuvers for the Guard/Army training procedures...that's why they aren't going out and staying out on maneuvers...they go out cover an area during the day and go back to the 'SAFE ZONE'...any night maneuvers are handled by the 'Special Opts'!