If Donald Trump had read this anecdote from a book by a formerBritish Army Officer, the Afghan strategy he laid out on Monday might have been different.

In 2011, an American general in Helmand –a province in southern Afghanistan – brought together a group of village elders to win them over to the coalition cause. After the elders voiced their concerns, it was time for him to respond. He stood up and said: “Over the last thirty years, Afghanistan has been plagued by terrorists and Mujahedin… I am here to clear them from the country.”

At this point the mood in the room changed and a frenzied chatter broke out. Why?

Many of the village elders, the very people the general was so keen to win over, were the ex-Mujahedin. A similar ignorance of local dynamics was on display again in Trump’s speech.

READ MORE HERE:   http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-pakistan-china-india-intervene-in-afghanistan-unwise-a7912336.html