[B]uried in the news that the US had driven another nail into the global democracy coffin in Kabul was the delivery of the first Tucano to the Afghan Air Force.
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The point of the [US Light Air Support (LAS) program] was to give the Afghans something that would be “good enough,” and wouldn’t end up either rotting on a runway at Bagram or end up across the border in Pakistan. Or Iran.
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The winner of the LAS competition was the A-29, a purpose-built counterinsurgency aircraft in use by several militaries in places south of Mexico.
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The AAF [Afghan Air Force], like all things with wings, is the kind of solution to security problems that has a distinctly American flair. It’s not nearly as fun to stand up a functional, professional army as it is to point to the skies as they echo with the sound of freedom. Which, if freedom can be measured in decibels, ISAF helos are freeing the absolute shit out of Kabul.
We Need It Because…Air Force!
The existence of the AAF pre-supposes that all good military forces should have an aerial component. Not so long ago the AAF was part of the Afghan army, but Karzai put a stop to that, seeing the need for a separate aerial fighting force. I suspect that this “need” was driven by American “dollars,” and the prestige that comes with being the sort of president that has an air force at his disposal.
Back in the days before the world discovered Afghanistan, the country had a functional air force. During the most recent civil war, this force was put to all kinds of good uses, namely converting structures and their inhabitants from a solid to a mist.
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Nothing takes people’s minds off of spotty electricity, failing health care, and unstaffed schools like seeing jet fighters streaking through the sky. Jet noise cures all kinds of things: hunger, illiteracy, and impotence. Especially that last one.
But the problem with putting the “air” in an “air force” is that they’re expensive. And complicated. And expensive. And if you’re fighting an enemy who’s pretty happy in his flip flops and his Pakistani knock off of a Chinese copy of a clunky Russian rifle, air forces are a bit of overkill. Sure, they provide battlefield superiority, make it easier to kill more bad guys, and they do put on a great airshow for the kids, but a first world air force is…right: expensive.
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The way the LAS program works is this: the Americans (in this case the US Air Force) orders the aircraft, then delivers them to the Afghans. The Afghans then are expected to come up with the money in the future to buy more of them on their own. These would be the same Afghans who currently need an immediate cash infusion to pay their own civil servants.
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It’s true that the Afghans are getting 20 aircraft. 20 Tucanos isn’t a bad deal if you’re talking about close air support for a country the size of Texas. But if the insurgency opts to open up a multi-front conflict…sorry…I can’t finish that sentence. [...] [T]hose 20 aircraft are going to be…busy. And they’re only going to be showing up 2 at a time between now and next summer.
Sunny in Kabul
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