US Forces Make Gains After Trading Static Afghan Outposts for Mobility

“The belief was our presence there was radicalizing and driving the insurgents,” said Bill Roggio, who directs the Long War Journal for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. …

To Mr. Roggio, the command still has lots of work to do.

“The Taliban has gained control over areas,” he told The Times. “A general called it ‘mowing the grass.’ That’s basically what we’ve been doing, trying to conduct these special operations raids and battalion- and brigade-size operations to [clip] the grass every once in a while. The Taliban still controls numerous districts.” …

Said Mr. Roggio: “The Taliban went in and made a propaganda coup — riding the StairMaster we left behind, stuff like that.”

The lesson? “There’s no quick fixes,” he said. “Ultimately, that would be the lesson. You needed to go into those areas with overwhelming military force, and you also needed the civil side. You needed Afghan governance.”

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