Afghanistan

CEFCOM - J5

complex operation

• complex environments
• many legal frameworks very similar mission

media

• ramp ceremonies and fighting vs. meetings
• 90% meetings 10% fighting
• 3D approach

fundamental difference

• going in as invaders vs…
• invitees, UN sanctioned…
• with the graces of the Afghan government

key takeaways (US jargon)

• theory and reality
• theory is easy reality is hard
• operating in a truncated world
• it is all about products and effect

the triade

• 3 assets to instill in students

1. arm them with a rifle - force
2. arm them with money - lots of it
3. arm them with knowledge

people

• equipment is necessary but not sufficent
• networking
• 90% of time is spent talking and building relationships
• communication amongst your own team and with the local players

Human Geography

afghanistan

• 80% illiteracy
• education women are the ultimate target
• educated women represents a threat to peoples traditional conception of reality
• women are powerful in the family unit in Afghanistan - little kabul - a book

the adversary

• it
• it is an it not a him
• it is an idea a concept

Mao

• an insurgency is a like a fish that swims through the water of people

Pentathlon leader

• multiple skill sets are necessary

60 rule

• completely reactive to the Taliban message
• so He but the commanders intent on the web to gain the upper hand in the information war
• factual correct - no spin - publicize the message

push back

• didn't come from Pakistan
• it came from the New York Times
• it looked like a bad news story but it was actually a good news story

the information war

• getting the story out
• the story line
• why do you people go to NATO first before
• before you go to the Insurgents to get their story - know our story first

crime

• gangs/ drugs
• counter narcotics in afghanistan is a 3 billion dollar industry
• there were not once an opium convoy in the entire tour
• it is big business
• characteristics of today's environment - takeaway

population growth is along the coast

• the coast is an indicator of where the next conflicts will come from
• Afghanistan's neighbours are using it as a little sandbox
• family sizes between 7 - 12 - more willing to kill - families are more willing to lose their children to a political cause

42 - 47 increas in life expectancy
mortality rates of children are down

failed states

• philosophically - Iraq was not a failed state before it was decapitated

water usage

• India, US, and China they are going to be hurting for water pretty soon
• water is huge in Afghanistan

Situation

• insurgency
• the heart the conflict is the economy
• the mission was the find every man and women a job
• education became vital
• Mosque is the primary source of information

it's the mosque stupid

• A Canadian Imam accompanied the CF into Afghanistan
• I want you to engage in dialogue
• the fighting was done in the Mosque
• every week the the Taliban's message was pumped through the mosque
• the National Government was not paying the operating costs of the schools and the mosques
• Build your own Madrases, pay the clergy, pay for the maintenance

external actors

• pakistan and India
• border troops
• Opium is rotting out Russian Society

Kids

• at 6 years western kids can talk
• at 21 years old they still need maximum adult supervision
• we can't Afghans to be like westerns

we are using the wrong map of Afghanistan

• 1919 - westerners made the Map
• the Pushtun Wali society map is 2000 years old
• that is the only Map that is taught and understood in the Mosques
• we created the idea of Afghanistan
• it is a patch work quilt tribes that do not mix well
• it is like oil and water
• you must deal with them all separately
• a democratic superstructure has to marry a tribal society

Pashtuns

• powerful status in ISAF and Karzai' regime
• Sikhs - he came from an oppressed group in India - the Pashtuns loved it
• he also had a beard and they respect that
• He also had a unique language and dialect

colonial baggage

• they still have stories about the British from the 1800's

where is my cabinet

• who is my development advisor
• who is my UN advisor
• who is my foreign affair advisor
• I want a cabinet
• British, Dutch, US, German liasons
• then i consulted the governors

used plain language

• fight the enemy guided by a plan
• know thy self
• deliver effects
• seperate politics from effects

you job is about politics

• the effects you achieve have to be informed by a strategy

communication

• who is the audience
• Canadian Audience
• NGO/ IO
• International Audience
• Pakistani Audience - tailor your discussion to their interests and view point
• Afghan audience
• use a constant theme
• people want to know what we are doing
• public affairs officers were inundated

Manley Report

moderates

• it is an afghan problem
• we talk to Afghans we don't talk to the Taliban
• Mullah Eberhard - he switched sign
• you want to influence somebody talk to someone because they have ten friends
• the taliban plays 14 dollars a day the government pays 4 dollars a day

"life choice" - i'll make the first two for you

secret to life

• security

security

• ten bucks sounds pretty good unless you die in two weeks
• less up front
• pay me know pay me later

roads

• have a huge benefit
• 20 million dollars were spent on raods

training

• the governor
• carried around like 4 cell phones
• he jumped in a jeep - pulled an AK47 and went a dealt with some bikers

were not here because this story is boring

• stop worrying so much about formality - any information is good information
• if that you told that story in that way
• of the governor with the four cell phone and the AK
• i would read that story and they would print it because i want to read it
• give the population some credit
• if you told that exact story in 750 words you don't think they would print it?
• it has cultural

Mixed Mesasge

• counter narcotics
• 2 pillars
• eradication alternative

this sized room of poppies will feed a family of 5 for a week

• it is easy to grow - self propagating
• afghan led
• alternative livelihood program
• we can't tell a farmer to build roads
• we had a wheat board - if they get 100 bucks for poppies pay them 100 bucks to grow corn
• why doesn't the corn solution work?

corruption

• afghan definition of corruption - billions
• every time you have a meeting you have to give me something
• if you don't give me something today you are corrupt
• a bad meeting is when people are not bitching, whining and complaining
• a good meeting is chaos

30% of afghan women are in School - CIDA

roads

• village medical outreach - go away - we have our own
• education - go away we have the mosque
• roads? - nobody told us you build roads
• now the mentality is - we build roads you destroy things

schools

• 6 million children are in school - over half are women - since 2001 - BULLSHIT
• most schools are government and NGO driven
• if a military sets up a school then it becomes a target - it has no legitimacy
• civic action programs - seed money - but no schools
• micro-credit

paradox

• the more successful you are the more messy it looks
• the more infrastructure you build the more targets you create

police

• they have a short life span
• they are fighting for their lives
• we can't give the police for heavy weapons
• why can't we give them heavy weapons?

USAID Africa vs. Afghanistan

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