The Military Case Against Abandoning the Syrian Kurds
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Kurdish fighters in Syria. Source: Maryam Ashrafi. The US military has been previously asked to perform military operations on the northern Euphrates against ISIS. A future order to carry out military operations may be a variant of the ISIS resurgent scenario. In any case, it is prudent for the US military to prepare for such contingencies. Contingency planning demands force planning. Biddle is right that successful military operations against a skilled adversary like ISIS (with many veterans of Saddam's special forces) require both command of the air and ground-force skill. In particular, untrained local auxiliaries may be enough to defend home territory but ground-force skill is necessary for conquest; viz. ya cannot win and hold territory against a skilled adversary from the air with militias composed of doubtfully trained amateurs as your only allies on the ground. So who has the US military relied on to provide ground-force skill against ISIS?
The Military Case Against Abandoning the Syrian Kurds
The Military Case Against Abandoning the…
The Military Case Against Abandoning the Syrian Kurds
Kurdish fighters in Syria. Source: Maryam Ashrafi. The US military has been previously asked to perform military operations on the northern Euphrates against ISIS. A future order to carry out military operations may be a variant of the ISIS resurgent scenario. In any case, it is prudent for the US military to prepare for such contingencies. Contingency planning demands force planning. Biddle is right that successful military operations against a skilled adversary like ISIS (with many veterans of Saddam's special forces) require both command of the air and ground-force skill. In particular, untrained local auxiliaries may be enough to defend home territory but ground-force skill is necessary for conquest; viz. ya cannot win and hold territory against a skilled adversary from the air with militias composed of doubtfully trained amateurs as your only allies on the ground. So who has the US military relied on to provide ground-force skill against ISIS?