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Harsh reality, tough love
By Philip Smucker
LETI KANDAL PASS, Kunar province - Stone by stone, the new United States
military outposts are being built along this lawless frontier that has proven a
bane to Alexander the Great, the 14th-century conqueror Tamerlane and - most
recently - George W Bush, the former American commander-in-chief.
Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, the new platoon-sized (30 to 50
soldiers) installations are a bold statement to the Taliban, its varied tribal
allies and al-Qaeda's military advisors based just inside Pakistan. With their
high-tech night vision devices, US fighters can spot the "heat signatures" of
invaders slipping across from Pakistan and like high-tech magicians make the
starry skies rain metal.
"Our aim is that the insurgents will cease to exist or simply become
irrelevant," said 10th Mountain Division Major Andy Knight, who commands
several light infantry platoons now fanning out across the border.
Whereas seven years ago, American military commanders were bursting with
confidence about their chances of thwarting "the enemy", today's US commanders,
many with years of hard-fought experience in Afghanistan, are far more
circumspect and pragmatic in their approach to counter-insurgency. The
inhibiting factors are many.
The first, manpower, has been addressed by the President Barack Obama
administration which has said it is ready to nearly double the number of US
forces stationed here. The first step is the current infusion of some 17,000
new soldiers. After that, 13,000 more are already tagged for possible
deployment should the security situation deteriorate.
Yet sheer numbers are not likely to crack the challenges presented by this
border's harsh, intractable terrain.
American commanders like Knight, who commands light infantry fighters, have
been given the discretion to permit soldiers to discard certain parts of their
body armor that can prevent their "hot pursuit" of fleet-footed insurgents, who
often skip through the rocks in sandals and T-shirts. Neck guards, side plating
and groin protection have already been dropped from the body armor of many
American fighters.
Even when US fighters get what they believe to be a bead on an opponent, they
are required to - according to their commanders - "positively identify" him.
"If we shoot not knowing, it would be a violation of our rules of engagement,"
said Lieutenant Colonel Frederick O'Donnell, Major Knight's immediate commander
and a 1990 West Point graduate. Insurgents who conceal weapons well stand a
good chance of slipping through the American net.
Still, American military commanders claim that they have learned, often the
hard way, that accidental killings of civilians can set their efforts back
weeks and months.
"We hope we don't have to make the moral judgment to shoot a man running away
with a gun who is not an enemy," said Knight, leaning back in his swivel chair
alongside a computer screen that read, "Top Secret".
"We try to rely on Afghans to help us identify insurgents and we've warned the
elders to keep villagers off the mountains at night," he added. "That said, if
farmer Mohammed is fleeing up the mountain with his shotgun and we shoot him,
even 99% sure that he is an insurgent, and it turns out that he is not, we've
got a problem on our hands."
This is where the US military's "Solatia Payment" program comes in, according
to Major Chevelle Thomas, the senior public information officer for the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s Task Force Duke, which controls Eastern
Afghanistan.
"These payments are a statement that we regret the loss of life and the
hardship that the shooting or injury has created," she said. "The payments are
not, however, a legal admission of culpability. Instead of trying to decipher
how an Afghan civilian has been killed in the cross-fire, we provide money."
This, of course, puts the US military in the position of determining the price
of an Afghan life; often in the low thousands of dollars.
Nevertheless, accidental civilian deaths remain an "Achilles' heel" for a US
military and NATO operation that still relies heavily on air power and
high-tech weaponry to fight a guerrilla war in which insurgents hide in homes
and pose as shepherds.
Even as US forces vow to take the fight to the enemy in this remote border
region, the Taliban, other Islamic insurgents and al-Qaeda, have another
advantage over the Western forces: a sanctuary in Pakistan. "They are bringing
107mm rockets in on donkey back, setting them up with timers and riding back on
the donkey into Pakistan, laughing all the way," said one US intelligence
officer.
"We have a hard time to outmaneuver them," said O'Donnell. "We'll never defeat
all the enemy elements ourselves and that is why our approach in this war has
shifted; it is now population-centric. Even then, as we try to build
relationships with the broader population, we can't get over the fact that to
Afghans, an American soldier in his fighting machine often looks like an alien
from outer space."
Knight could not agree more. "That is why we do not focus strictly on the
border," he said. "The reality is that unless the population stops aiding or
turning a blind eye to the enemy, we will never succeed. One family living in
fear cannot stop these guys. On the other hand, if a whole village bands
together with our help, it is a different story."
Although the jury remains out on American success on this frontier, much of the
can-do optimism of earlier years has now been tempered by hard realism.
Not all of it, however. As if to stress the point, during an intel briefing,
O'Donnell asks Knight if he can work with a group of Afghan elders on the
border near the new Dangam outpost, some of whom have refused to shake hands
with a young US platoon leader.
"Yes, sir," he snapped back. "We just gotta show 'em some love."
Philip Smucker is a commentator and journalist based in South Asia and
the Middle East. He is the author of Al-Qaeda's Great Escape: The
Military and the Media on Terror's Trail (2004). He is currently writing
My Brother, My Enemy, a book about America and the battle of ideas in the
Islamic world.
(Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about
sales, syndication and
republishing.)
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