Before you go anywhere dangerous you have to study as much you can about the operating environment. Here's a look at thoughts from my research so far.
The Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) is the elephant in the room when it comes to the war in Afghanistan. A weak Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan. The ISI, through clandestine action, puts operations in play to support Pakistani national objectives in the region. It is unknown how much control the central government is actually able to wield over the ISI. This makes it a serious player in Pakistan on both internal and foreign policies. The ISI funds, trains, and equips the Taliban (and other groups) from strongholds in Pakistan. There is an extensive history on this pattern since the Soviet invasion in the 80s that I'll write more about in a later post. Bottom line, these guys are the puppet masters and their role can't be understated.
The other enemy we face in Afghanistan is us. Our bureaucracy prevents us from being effective at the most important task: building lasting relationships with Afghans. My biggest fear is not green on blue attacks, but the consequences of a restricted battle-space resulting from overly protective commanders. Your security posture matters in how you interact with people, and we tend to take it too far. And if you restrict your own movements you play right into the hands of the bad guys. If I come visit your house or your neighborhood how are you going to feel if I show up armed to the teeth in full body armor and looking nervous when I talk to you? Or I may skip the visit altogether because it takes up too many resources to get there. Unfortunately a risk-averse commander can and often does mandate that local interactions go down like that. The guys I have talked to who got freedom of movement were effective because they looked and acted in culturally sensitive manner. In their case the best weapon was culture and language skills.
Like Napolean said (paraphrase imminent) "Don't do what your enemy wants you to do." In this war the battles are not for terrain, they are battles for trust.
The Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) is the elephant in the room when it comes to the war in Afghanistan. A weak Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan. The ISI, through clandestine action, puts operations in play to support Pakistani national objectives in the region. It is unknown how much control the central government is actually able to wield over the ISI. This makes it a serious player in Pakistan on both internal and foreign policies. The ISI funds, trains, and equips the Taliban (and other groups) from strongholds in Pakistan. There is an extensive history on this pattern since the Soviet invasion in the 80s that I'll write more about in a later post. Bottom line, these guys are the puppet masters and their role can't be understated.
The other enemy we face in Afghanistan is us. Our bureaucracy prevents us from being effective at the most important task: building lasting relationships with Afghans. My biggest fear is not green on blue attacks, but the consequences of a restricted battle-space resulting from overly protective commanders. Your security posture matters in how you interact with people, and we tend to take it too far. And if you restrict your own movements you play right into the hands of the bad guys. If I come visit your house or your neighborhood how are you going to feel if I show up armed to the teeth in full body armor and looking nervous when I talk to you? Or I may skip the visit altogether because it takes up too many resources to get there. Unfortunately a risk-averse commander can and often does mandate that local interactions go down like that. The guys I have talked to who got freedom of movement were effective because they looked and acted in culturally sensitive manner. In their case the best weapon was culture and language skills.
Like Napolean said (paraphrase imminent) "Don't do what your enemy wants you to do." In this war the battles are not for terrain, they are battles for trust.
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