Afghanistan. A French general “opens it”, the debate opens… finally!
(BRUSSELS2) General Vincent Desportes, head of the CID, the Joint Defense College (which trains senior officers), "blew the valve", in Le Monde dated July 2: “We cannot wage war against the morale of soldiers” by dismantling certain official myths surrounding the intervention in Afghanistan. As a result, it allows to open the debate.
Four myths shattered
General Desportes dismantles four myths:
1. The "situation is not good" stated, "she's never been so bad".
2. The method is wrong. "LChanging the way you fight hasn't paid off in a clear way yet.", "The mode of action "winning hearts and minds" attracting more and more criticism. "The McChrystal doctrine does not work or is no longer accepted".
3. We must drastically review the strategy. "And there's only one option left - according to Desportes: that of Vice President Joseph Biden, who says that America has other strategic interests than Afghanistan, that it is trapped there by an endless war, and that we must get out of it, by reducing the troops to a capacity of punctual strikes against Al-Qaeda. (...) Lhe problem will be to reconcile the strategy with those who implement it. It will also probably be necessary to postpone the date of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.".
4. It all depends on Washington. There is no international coalition but a US strategy. "It's an American war. When you are a 1% shareholder, you don't have the floor."
The debate begins in France
General Desportes is familiar with iconoclastic speeches (read on Secret Défense : The General Desportes calls for "not to dream American"). But this speech, just after the rant and the eviction of McChrystal (1), is particularly frank, direct and assumed. It should be noted that these are not reported Off remarks (as with Rolling Stones) but an interview in good and due form, a few days before the general's departure (retired). But if the subject can be discussed, this intervention has at least one merit: to open, in France, the debate on the French presence in Afghanistan, a debate which has so far been barely sketched out and often bypassed unlike other countries: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Poland (2)...
The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Edouard Guillaud thus spoke of a "fault" and about "irresponsible"... But the socialist deputy for Ille-et-Vilaine, Jean-Michel Boucheron, a specialist in defense issues (he is rapporteur for the defense budget in the Assembly) has a completely different opinion. These questions asked by Desportes "cannot be evacuated out of hand" he explains. "The idea that a foreign army can win hearts and minds is naïve. And to add:The inevitable withdrawal from Afghanistan must indeed be the subject of political preparation".
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Read also:
(1) McChrystal shoot Biden on sight. The French, too, take it for their rank!
(2) The withdrawal of Polish troops from Afghanistan is no longer taboo To be specified: The candidate for the presidency of the Civic platform (Liberal), Komorovski, promised on the eve of a decisive second round (the elections take place on Sunday), a withdrawal within two years (therefore by 2012). In a ballot that promises to be tight, the left has, in fact, put this condition (the withdrawal from Afghanistan) for the support of the candidacy of the liberal candidate. His opponent Kaczynski evokes a withdrawal within 5 years of his mandate. This is the second time that the Afghan question has become a decisive electoral issue in a European country (after the Netherlands).
