This is coolbert:
“lieutenants think tactics, generals think logistics.”
The American/NATO effort in Afghan is absolutely connected to having a secure and dependable main supply route [MSR] from Karachi, Pakistan, through the Khyber Pass, to Kabul?
70 % of logistics need by the American/NATO force in Afghan is and has been forwarded via this MSR!
And yet - - the effort by American/NATO commanders to secure and maintain a continuous and uninterrupted flow of supply through the Khyber Pass has been half-hearted, lackadaisical, ill thought out, reactive ONLY, and NOW, imperiled?
American/NATO forces are totally at the mercy of the Pakistani to provide security for those re-supply convoys transiting the pass? Security now proving to be totally inadequate for the task?
The current Khyber Pass/Afghan MSR situation can be contrasted with the La Voie Sacree [Sacred Way] of World War One [WW1] fame?
The French, at the WW1 Battle of Verdun, also depended absolutely upon one MSR. A single narrow gravel road, with parallel narrow gauge railway carried nearly 100 % of the beans and bullets to the embattled Frenchmen defending the fortress city of Verdun. This single MSR became known as "The Road" and in the aftermath of Verdun, "La Voie Sacree"!
Petain [the most senior French commander at Verdun] and the rest of the French high command decided very early in the game that “The Road” had to be kept open, maintained, and secured, the flow of supplies to the Verdun garrison needing to be uninterrupted and continuous, NO MATTER WHAT!!
The French mobilized and marshaled their forces, devised and implemented plans, using whatever means and methods were necessary to keep “The Road” open, NO MATTER WHAT, NO MATTER HOW DRACONIAN!! And, doing so all the while “The Road” being under sporadic attack by German ground-strafing aircraft and long-range artillery fire!
Means and methods, successful, to include:
* "construction of a relief standard-gauge railway line"
* "8,500 men . . . worked to keep the road in good shape and order."
* "A broken down vehicle was immediately moved to the roadside"
* "30 breakdown trucks always on the road and repair crews stationed beside it"
* "Automobile repair shops [working] ceaselessly"
* "hydraulic presses turning out solid rubber tyres."
* "fixed machine gun posts" [anti-aircraft]
* "several small military airfields . . . [complete with] Seven (7) Nieuport fighter squadrons"
We will not see American/NATO commanders responding in a similar fashion, as did the French at Verdun? The French - - to maintain the continuous flow of supplies - - had almost unlimited resources at their disposal, operated on friendly territory, AND HAD THE DETERMINATION, THE GUMPTION, THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WHEREWITHAL - - CARTE BLANCHE AUTHORITY WIELDED WHEN NEEDED.
American/NATO Afghan commanders will NEVER be given the means or the authority to act in a similar manner, as did the French at Verdun.
OH, I am telling you people, this Afghan MSR situation MUST BE, and NEEDS TO BE, taken seriously! Will it? Am I being too alarmist? Time will tell!
coolbert.
You are not being alarmist. This is a very, very serious problem. The recent "attack" on that supply convoy is just another in a long line of severe supply disruptions(I put attack in quotes because I feel that a good amount of this stuff is an inside job. Think Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas" stealing that truck) that threaten the US mission there.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the political situation, but why we are not moving the majority of supplies through the former Soviet Republics is beyond me. There are rail lines, roads and airfields that are much more secure than those in the tottering, ready to implode nation that is Pakistan. Call up Putin in Moscow and get permission to use those facilities(as even those are "independent" nations, it is Mosco's backyard. Pay them top dollar and ask nicely! Having a beef with Russia is a secondary concern these days. Our people need to be supplied.
And why the US hasn't set up a fake convoy is beyond me. Instead of supplies in those trucks, how about some guys with heavy weapons as a nasty surprise for potential hijackers(think the Q ships in WW1) who think they are just going to grab the goods? Risky? You bet! But the rewards would be great, in my opinion.