Yesterday, the Washington Post asked David Kilcullen, an Australian army reservist and top adviser to Gen. David H. Petraeus who has spent years studying insurgencies in Iraq, Indonesia and Afghanistan, among other countries, "What are the lessons of Iraq that most apply to Afghanistan?"
“I would say there are three. The first one is you’ve got to protect the population. Unless you make people feel safe, they won’t be willing to engage in unarmed politics. The second lesson is, once you’ve made people safe, you’ve got to focus on getting the population on your side and making them self-defending. And then a third lesson is, you’ve got to make a long-term commitment.”
Notice what Kilcullen does not advise: wage a brutal siege against a largely civilian population and convey to them that the brutality will not be mitigated unless they capitulate.
