We’re Sorry: Six Afghans Dead, US Still Losing War it Fails to Understand

May 8, 2012

Tags: Bernard Fall, COIN, Taliban
Posted in: Afghanistan, Military

Since we said we’re sorry, this is OK, right?


The New York Times tells us the American military expressed regret for an airstrike that mistakenly killed six members of a family in southwestern Afghanistan, Afghan and American military officials confirmed Monday. The victims included the family’s mother and five of her children, three girls and two boys, according to Afghan officials. The American regional commander, Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus of the Marines apologized.


It really should not be necessary to go over this again, but apparently some of you did not do the reading. So, when you are engaged in a counter insurgency struggle (COIN), the goal is to win the support of the people, in large part by protecting them from the other side, the Taliban in this case. If in fact you end up killing the people, they will not turn against the Taliban and will instead see you– US– as the problem, not the solution.


Sure, in war, people make mistakes. That is true. It is also true that the side that keeps making the same mistakes over and over again loses.

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