When Gen. Stanley McChrystal told the Senate last week that troops in Afghanistan will have to make cultural sensitivities central to military operations, he didn't sound like a man who spent most of his career in the special-operations world training soldiers to kill enemies quickly and stealthily.
But in his first interview since being named commander in Afghanistan, Gen. McChrystal said his front-row seat to the Iraq and Afghan wars has shifted his views.
Having watched the U.S. trying and failing to put down insurgencies in both countries through force, the former Green Beret said he believes that to win in Afghanistan, "you're going to have to convince people, not kill them."
I wonder if he will let his officers grow those big bushy Afghan beards which are supposed to be a sign of manhood in their culture. "Going native" in order to help the Afghans is a small price to pay to get that country under some kind of control. I am reading this book The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq and it tells exactly how a counter-insurgency is supposed to be done. I hope the lessons can carry over to Afghanistan.
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