Train, Advise, Assist. Is this strategy still viable? Will Afghanistan end up like Iraq?

Yes and No. The strategy is and would be viable, if they were all in, and they had a country infrastructure to build from. They were essentially a failed state when we invaded. That is hard to fix, if they are not all in. We are also not all in, which is another recipe for strategic failure.

Iraq, had a government and rule of law, we just disassembled it after we invaded (bad call in my view). Then we got them to a point they could make it, and things looked promising. But, again I don't think they wanted want we wanted for them, they had too many internal struggles, and once again we left too soon. We are not good at the long haul anymore.

Honestly CSM (Join to see) I thought we gave Iraq every chance of success, but I neither believed Afghanistan would work. The latter, like Somalia, I thought would be like we were never there, as soon as we left.

I think we can train, advise and assist until we are blue in the face but the proof of how well the ANA Soldiers will do will be when they are forced to act without us being there. I think that is what we saw in Iraq. We spent countless hours and money training and gearing them up but when it came time to put into practice; they threw their training, and their gear, into the wind and ran off.

What is the fate of Afghanistan? I would love to sit here and say they will become a great partner able to take the training we provide and run a successful military. Will that be how history remembers them? That I'm not sure about.

So, here is my $0.02 (and with the exchange rate, may be worth less than that to many!!)... The Mentorship (Train, Advise, Assist, or COIN, or whatever you want to call it) has GREAT potential. I think that it would work. My opinion is that there are a couple inherent flaws with the program as current politics are involved: 1. It is in association with a war (often not a politician's best friend after it has been going on for a bit). 2. Lack of political, military, and home resolve to complete the mission. 3. Failure to recognize what the mission complete looks like. I feel that in a radicalized nation such as Iraq and Afghanistan, the mission is a 50-75 year mission. We have to have people in place to mentor and guide the leadership, Mentor and guide the military/security forces, Mentor and Guide the EDUCATION SYSTEM. We need to be there for 1-2 generations ensuring the education system is up and running, education to ALL the kids....let these kids grow up, have more kids and educate THESE kids.... Let the "old guard" and "old ideas" along with the "old folks with set ways of thinking" die off. Only with this idea will we have complete and total success. Anything short of that fail as they respect the word of their village elders and will fall back into their old routines. I am not even sure that THIS plan would stand a test of time, but sure stands a better chance then current policies and thought processes.