Our map assessment of taliban of 2010 and gen mcchrystals map assessment of 2013

2. Our October 2010 Taliban
Assessment and General Mc
Chrystals 2013 Taliban Map
Assessment compared
DOI:
10.13140/RG.2.2.35644.67209

7. General Stan
McChrystals Map
Assessment of
Taliban groups in
January 2013
Memoirs and
A.Amins Assessment
of 20 October 2010

8. Stanley A. McChrystal ,
Michael Hastings
Understanding USAs Afghan
War
Agha Humayun Amin
ISBN-13: 978-1497427990
ISBN-10: 1497427991
March 2014
Agha Humayun Amin

9. Introduction
This is a short narrative of US
Afghan War from 2001 to
2014.
Stanley A Mc Chrystal’s
autobiographical account cum
official history and Michael
Hastings iconoclastic hard
hitting personal account are
two catalysts and primers of

10. this narrative.
My personal and historical
fascination with Afghan War
pre dates both narratives,
although both narratives have
crucial historical value,
despite Stanley’s
whitewashing US military
history’s dirty linen and
Hastings powerful volleys of
verbal artillery , sometimes
misconceived and misdirected

11. , but by and large close to
reality.
Stanley is a man of this world ,
who has climbed up the
institutional ladder and
continues to be part of the
haves in a sociopolitical
system, which although not
totally perfect is one of
mankinds land mark
achievements.
That Michael Hastings was able

12. to get published in US main
stream press and be heard is a
testament to the fact that the
US despite all its failings is a
great democracy where
pluralism exists if not thrive.

13. Contents
• Timeline Afghan War
• Mc Chrystals Narrative
• Michael Hastings Narrative
• Making sense of US Afghan
War from 2001 to 2014
• Conclusion

14. Timeline Afghan War
2001
• US attacks Afghanistan and
Taliban flee.
• Pakistans bastard child
military regime becomes US
ally under coercion and out of

15. fear of a possible US Indian
strategic combination against
Pakistan.
• Musharraf secretly supports
Taliban.
2002
• US consolidates in
Afghanistan.
• Taliban recoup and
reorganize in Pakistan.
2003
• No major change

16. 2004
• Best year of US in
Afghanistan
2005
• No major change
• US Appraisal of Balochistan
Insurgency in Pakistan
commences-December 2005
2006
• Insurgency in Pakistani
Balochistan heats up

17. • Pakistani major appraisal of
US and NATO role in
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• NATO major appraisal of
Pakistani states ambiguity
• Assasination of Akbar Bugti
2007
• Watershed year in
Afghanistan for insurgency.
• Musharraf destabilized as
perceived as playing
ambiguous role in Afghan war

18. • Taliban insurgents return in
force and step up
2008
• Musharraf removed in
Pakistan and new civil military
set up of Kiani-Zardari in
power
• Obama elected as president.
• Afghan reappraisal in US.
• US troops beefed up in
Afghanistan
• Pakistans FATA War

19. escalates
2009
• Afghan war escalates
• Taliban re-emerge as strong
force in south Afghanistan
• Pakistans FATA War
escalates
2010
• Afghan war escalates
• FATA War de-escalates
• Balochistan unstable

20. • Mc Chrystal Removed
• Petraeus takes over
2011
• Afghan war de-escalates as
US step down pace of
operations.
• OBL Raid in Abottabad
• Salala Raid on Pakistani post
• Pakistani Balochistan war
escalates
• US strategy in Afghanistan
remains non conlusive and

21. vague despite Petraeus claims
2012
• Pakistans FATA and
Balochistan wars continue at
low key but constant activity
2013
• No major change
• Afghan US Practice
successful targeted attacks on
insurgents in Pakistan
2014
• No major change

22. Mc Chrystal’s Narrative
Mc Chrsytals narrative which
was published in 2013 has
significant historical value.
Somerset Maugham once
brilliantly summed it up
no one can tell the whole
truth about himself !
Mc Chrystal himself admitted
that his work was subjected to
censorship by US Department

23. of Defense.
Mc Chrystal is very much a
part of US establishment and
continues to enjoy state
patronage in various
forms.Thus what he states is
partly objective and partly
subjective and not the whole
truth .
A normal state with semi
official memoirs.
Partly one may state that Mc

24. Chrystal learnt a harsh lesson
in the Micahel Hastings affair
that bluntness does not pay !
So Mc Chrystal became wiser
in his old age and carefully
applied the lesson Liddell Hart
and Fuller learnt that
exposure of rottenness is
regarded as worse than
rottenness in this world !
Anglo Saxon societies in lead !
Where dissent and intellectual

25. rebellion is dealt in a more
subtle albeit effective manner
!
Now coming straight to Mc
Chrystals memoirs.
1. My Share of the Task was
published by Penguin USA in
2013.This makes it most
respectable but not
necessarily most truthful !
2. Mc Chrystal admits in the
initial part that in writing the

26. book he worked closely with
US special Operations
Command (SOCOM).
3. Mc Chrystal admits that he
submitted the books
manuscript to US Department
of Defense for DIPLOMATIC
REVIEW ! I am tempted to
conclude that here Mc Chrystal
has confessed that he was not
intellectually autonomous but
told like a good son what to

27. write and what not to write !
Even in free societies
professorships at Yale and
other perks and privilieges
come with a cost tag attached.
4. Mc Chrystal states in the
memoirs that in 1982 he
wanted to leave the army but
later changed his mind.
5. Mc Chrystal views Operation
Eagle Claw as a land mark
event in US special operations

28. history but the book has no
map illustrating Operation
Eagle Claw.A map would have
added more flavor to Mc
Chrystals narrative.