Rethink the Afghanistan Surge | A U.S. General explains why the Iraq model doesn’t apply

Flikr photo by Carl Montgomery used under a Creative Commons license. Eric T. Olsen, who was the operational commander of all coalition forces in Afghanistan in 2004-05, cautions the success of the surge in Iraq cannot be replicated in Afghanistan.  General Olson clarifies:

Iraq is like New York State: both feature mostly urban populations with dominant capitals. Pacify the Big Apple and you pacify the whole state; pacify Baghdad and you pacify Iraq. But Afghanistan is more like Alaska: both have rural populations with capital cities far removed from large, mountainous regions. Baghdad alone accounts for 7 million Iraqis – about one-quarter of the population. In Afghanistan, barely one-tenth of the population lives in the five largest cities. Because Baghdad is the political and socioeconomic center of the nation, the calming effect of the surge there reverberated across the country. But there is no such city in Afghanistan.