How to Lose a War

The stupidity of the war in Afghanistan continues unabated. Here's a bit from a news story on Wired:

The Royal Air Force has accidentally killed a young girl in Afghanistan — by dropping a box of leaflets on her. The British Ministry of Defence is carrying out a full investigation. Meanwhile, the seemingly-antiquated practice of leaflet bombing continues. In the 21st century, it remains one of the primary tools of psychological warfare; U.S. Special Operations Command is even looking to build leaflet-carrying missiles. And while top American commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal has virtually banned “kinetic” air strikes, paper bombs are in regular use.

Several things about this strike me as odd:

• While dropping leaflets in WWII where literacy rates were 95%, it makes no sense in Afghanistan where the literacy rate is 28%. It would make more sense to hand out radios -- the gift that keeps giving -- and put on a lot of popular radio shows that entertain, educate, and propagandize. But I guess that kind of "advanced" thinking hasn't penetrated the US & NATO leadership.


• The "technology" of leafleting is 70 years old. You mean there are still cases where you drop boxes instead of individual leaflets? I guess the military figures failure rates on boxes is OK because it isn't going to fall on the heads of their troops. Everybody knows that "the other side" is expendable.


• The brains of the military supposedly "diagnosed" the failures in Afghanistan to the seize & retreat missions of the past. They decided they need to "keep a presence" among the people. How does dropping a leaflet from 2000 feet qualify as "keeping a presence" among the people?


• The military claims they know that killing civilians is bad for morale among the Afghans, but from how they bombed fuel trucks, dropped boxes, and open fire on villages, I'm now convinced that all that "new strategy" talk is really military propaganda for the home front. The reality out there is same old, same old.