Positioned For Troop Reduction? Who is PSYOPing whom?

The Washington Post of March 7, 2011 quoted Secretary of Defense Gates as indicated that the US was “well-positioned” for some troop reductions in Afghanistan in July. If you are a PSYOP (pardon me MISO) soldier, don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big supporter of Secretary Gates as seen in some previous posts, but my Brooklyn BS detector went off when I read that.

The Washington Post of March 7, 2011 quoted Secretary of Defense Gates as indicated that the US was “well-positioned” for some troop reductions in Afghanistan in July. If you are a PSYOP (pardon me MISO) soldier, don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big supporter of Secretary Gates as seen in some previous posts, but my Brooklyn BS detector went off when I read that.

While I have not been to Afghanistan, it strikes me that our information support operations forces be they military or civilian are stretched pretty thin. Furthermore, the tribal/rural nature of Afghanistan does not lend itself to mass marketing of any type.

At least Mr. Gates was straight forward by noting that reductions would be small and that a significant US force would remain behind. In theory, the notion of a military draw down should be a signal to NATO and to the US that the diplomatic information efforts need to ramp up. Civilian infrastructure and medical missions also need to be tightened up with realistic fiscal management and timetables coupled with accountability.

I’m still of the opinion that local economies are the fundamental building blocks in that AO. Villages and their traditional leaders will be there long after America departs.

Hopefully we and our NATO allies have the political will to insure a bottom up level of confidence and security otherwise, the terrorist elements within the country and those scurrying back and forth to Pakistan will once again ascend to power.