As it is Montgomery's birthday in the UK and as we are all discussing the Afghan War, am reminded of Monty's dictum: "never reinforce failure". Also that Monty (wounded in WW1) would always visit his wounded in hospital after every battle & would then be inconsolable for days.

Both of Montgomery & MacArthur had superb WW1 records and both were the last Edwardians with a certain panache. Both stood out when visiting front lines so as to be seen, even at risk of sniping (almost killing Mac at times). Contrast with 2020's 'bureaucrats in uniform' is stark

I wrote this in 2017 on the Afghan War & really everything then as now is a symptom of a military culture that has degenerated since World War II (the last war we unambiguously won) and everything else since has been a non-Clausewitzian political exercise https://twitter.com/GrayConnolly/status/1204656739167035392

TL:DR this is militarily insane

‘Endless War: Nothing Matters’

There is "no tactical, operational or strategic merit" in staying in Afghanistan & the fact that Biden in 2009 argued, rightly, to Obama for an Afghan withdrawal hopefully means the desire to end this most stupid of stupid & endless wars is bipartisan. https://twitter.com/PDShinkman/status/1329109309486206985

Remember those who want to stay in Afghanistan - seemingly, literally, forever - think it wise to deploy an Allied expeditionary army in a 'kessel' at the junction of historic Russian, Iranian, Indian, Pakistani & now Chinese ambitions .... as yet another harsh Winter approaches.

Soviets had c200,000 troops in Afghanistan, employed enormous firepower & the Red Army troops had no meaningful ROE restrictions ... and still withdrew. Anyone who thinks placing an Allied expeditionary army in an Afghan 'kessel' - in between Iran, Russia & China - is insane

“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing,” Douglas Lute, a three-star Army general who served as the White House’s Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

It is simply staggering that none of the fools & vagabonds who pushed the Afghan war, its 2009+ Surge & “counter insurgency” nonsense for two decades had careers or reputations damaged. As is the case with 2020, military failure is now failure upward and onward. Sordid, all over

Ten years ago every senior brass muppet flogging some “vision” was going on about counter insurgency which not only did not work but cost thousands of lives & billions of dollars. COIN is dumb for 1st world countries with limited country/cultural knowledge & short attention spans

Counter insurgency is basically a war of occupation (sure you build schools & hospitals is wonderful etc but you are doing it as a foreign occupier). The only successful occupiers in history have been persistent carrot & very heavy stick ie Romans. There is no PC way to do this.

In Syria, the Russians did their own counter-insurgency which worked ala Grozny: Russian bear went full kinetic & destroyed everything. Sure, no grifting academics / consultants selling books but it destroyed Syria's jihadi threat. If you will the ends, you will the means.

There will be books written on what little if anything the West accomplished in Afghanistan in 20 years with the 'hearts and minds' nonsense vs what the Russians achieved by going fully kinetic in Syria within 12-18 months. The Russians, Chinese, Iran etal all note our futility

Will just add that after the 1915 Gallipoli disaster, the Asquith Govt held an unsparing special inquiry into Gallipoli in 1916 during Wartime...the Afghan War is now c20 years old-not just an absolute debacle but clearly always understood to be one by those in charge at the time