He makes ten recommendations; I make only one

 He is Joshua Sinai, a professor of Practice in Counterterrorism Studies, and he says he has ten measures representing ten recommendations that – if followed meticulously – will help prevent future Afghan-like disasters.

 

The professor wrote an article in which he described those measures. The article came under the title: “How to prevent future Afghan-like disasters,” and the subtitle: “In a post 9/11 world.” It was published on September 9, 2021 in The Washington Times.

 

Sinai says he assembled notes from the many lessons that were learned over the years, watching and studying counterinsurgency campaigns carried out in places like Vietnam and Somalia.

 

The ten measures of Professor Joshua Sinai are listed below, presented here in a condensed form, with each being followed by a commentary of mine:

 

First measure: America “must formulate a political-military plan with defined objectives and end-states.” America also needs to understand and address the root causes of the insurgency.

 

Comment: This sounds reasonable except for the fact that no exit strategy was incorporated in the plan in case something went horribly wrong. And there is no definition of what would constitute a mission accomplished requiring an honorable exit.

 

Second measure: America must not install a government of riffraff that doesn’t know how to govern or to build a nation. Even if America doesn’t want to admit it’s doing just that, it must think in terms of building a nation, most of it done by the government it has installed, that will take American advice.

 

Comment: America must never invade a country to do regime change or install a government. If it must have revenge for being hit by someone, it should go in, do what it needs to do, and get out as soon as the mission is accomplished.

 

Third measure: The local government must be given the capability to defend the country while relying on its own military.

 

Comment: If America is invited by the local government to help it quell a local insurgency, America must help the local government only if the insurgency is foreign inspired, foreign financed or aided by foreign mercenaries. But if the insurgency is purely a local phenomenon, America must stay out.

 

Fourth measure: Here is what Joshua Sinai says, “the local government forces must secure the local population from insurgent attacks”.

 

Comment: The only reason why the insurgents would attack the population rather than try to win it over, is that the government has called on foreigners, such as Americans, to protect it. In this case, America must make sure it is not defending a local government that’s only attacked by local forces. That’s because a situation like this would constitute a civil war in which America must not take sides.

 

Fifth measure: The local government must work to win the hearts and minds of the population it is trying to govern.

 

Comment: There is nothing the Americans can do to make a local population love a wicked government.

 

Sixth measure: The local government must win the ideological narrative, thus get more recruits than the insurgents.

 

Comment: America, which believes in the democratic principle that says whichever way the local population expresses itself, if it shows that it prefers the insurgents over the local government, America must accept this choice. But if America cannot bring itself to loving the insurgents, it must stay neutral.

 

Seventh measure: Both America and the local government must work on securing the blessing of the international community for waging a war against a local insurgency.

 

Comment: I say amen to that, especially if the insurgents are not aided by a foreign power.

 

Eighth measure: Do what you can to bankrupt the insurgents.

 

Comment: I say, good luck with that, since there has never been an occasion when a “revolution” came to a halt because it ran out of money.

 

Nineth measure: As much as possible, try to deny the insurgents the ability to control territory.

 

Comment: That’s the name of the game. It’s what the fight is all about.

 

Tenth measure: Try to convince the insurgents that it is better to negotiate than to fight.

 

Comment: No kidding!

 

Joshua Sinai wants the readers to believe that four American administrations didn’t know this is what they had to do to win the war in Afghanistan. And so, one administration after the other squandered the opportunity to win the war, he asserts. In the end, America lost for no better reason, he says.

 

But now that he has given the American government the blueprint for how to win, America has a good chance of winning the next war against an insurgency that may erupt anywhere in the world, he says.

 

Just don’t publicize his plan, he means to counsel, because there are plenty of insurgents in the world today, and if the plan is not classified, they’ll get a copy of it and devise countermeasures of their own to defeat the plan.

 

Whereas Joshua Sinai has ten recommendations, he says will guarantee America a win over the insurgents, I have only one recommendation to make. And I can assure you that it will prove more effective than his ten. Here it is: When it comes to human interaction, don’t listen to a Jew. Get someone else.

 

And certainly – most certainly – don’t pay a Jew for his advice. It would be like flushing your money down the tube.