April 17, 2017
Afghanistan is at risk of becoming the new Vietnam
Thursday’s detonation in Afghanistan of the massive GBU 43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, also known as the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) could be for this war what the Tet Offensive was for Vietnam: a tactical military success that became the iconic symbol of a war gone hopelessly wrong.
Famed CBS correspondent Walter Cronkite’s poignant post-Tet commentary woke up Americans to that war’s strategic bankruptcy. The MOAB should do the same for Afghanistan. Fortunately, there is still time to win this one.
To be sure, the exceptionally-talented commander Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson was correct in stating that the bomb was the right munition for the right target. Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K, the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan) was using deep tunnel complexes in the Achin district to hide from American surveillance, amass logistics, and plan and coordinate their operations. The intelligence needed to find and strike the bunker was extensive. Experts in targeting and the law of armed conflict analyzed the problem in detail. The MOAB was probably the only alternative to a bloody ground assault. Destroying this complex will be a major setback for ISIS. There is even a chance it will not recover.
Read the full article at The Hill.
More from CNAS
-
PodcastBombshell: Come What May
Erin, Radha, and Loren invited Dr. Lindsay Cohn of the U.S. Naval War College to join their posse and explain America’s history of employing the military for domestic purposes...
By Loren DeJonge Schulman, Lindsay Cohn, Radha Iyengar & Erin Simpson
-
PodcastLoren DeJonge Schulman on The Smell of Victory Podcast
On The Smell of Victory Podcast, Bob Hein and Phil Walter sat down with Loren DeJonge Schulman of the Center for a New American Security to discuss the draft. Listen to the f...
By Loren DeJonge Schulman
-
PodcastSusanna V. Blume on Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast
On this Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, a Textron company, our guests include Bob Hale,(who now advises Booz Allen Hamilton &m...
By Susanna V. Blume
-
VideoCNAS’ Colby on Nuclear Strategy, Deterrence, Developing New Capabilities, INF Treaty
Bridge Colby, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force planning — one of the authors of the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy — n...
By Elbridge Colby