Earlier in the week I had one of those trips from hell which make being in Afghanistan such a drag. The drive between Jalalabad and Kabul takes less than 2 hours on a good day. Last Sunday the drive took over 12 hours – 9 of them spent sitting in a traffic jam just outside the the Poli Charki pass. The reason I was stuck with thousands and thousands of Afghans is that the French army had closed the road between Kabul and Jalalabad. They had (again second time in a week about the 50th time this year) rolled one of their armored vehicles and insisting that no traffic pass the accident scene until it had been recovered. The vehicle went over the side of the road into a ravine so the recovery required an industrial size crane which did not even arrive on scene until around five hours after the accident. That is five hours worth of traffic which should have been flowing freely but ISAF does not think that way. Whatever impact their actions have on the Afghans seems to be irrelevant to ISAF commanders – a mindset which is 180 degrees out from our recently upgraded, improved counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine.
The French were having a very bad day. They lost a legionnaire in this single vehicle traffic accident, had lost another 12 hours earlier to a lightening strike and two more who were drowned in a flash flood. A violent storm had scoured the eastern region at around 0530 Sunday morning causing a series of dangerous flash floods. The French were reportedly out and about at that hour in “an operation designed to strike at a network of bomb-setters.”
Striking a “network of bomb-setters” normally requires extensive human intelligence, reconnaissance to verify the intelligence followed by a visit by the direct action door kickers. Unless the “bomb – setters” are operating off an ISAF FOB or are stupid enough to give up their location and intention over cell phones there is no way the French or anyone else will be able to accurately target them because the recon guys, the human intelligence collectors and the door kickers are all confined to FOB’s and when they venture out they do so in gigantic armored personnel carriers (which tend to roll over on the narrow, mountainous roads of Afghanistan) and are completely isolated from the Afghan people they are supposedly here to protect. But the French were out and about; off the FOB in the bush doing some sort of operation which is more than can be said for the majority of military units operating in Afghanistan.
The problem is that the focus of the French (and every other unit here except the US Marines) is completely internal. Closing the most important route in Afghanistan for an entire day is too stupid for words. When that happens all the traffic jams up every bit of lane and shoulder on either side of the accident scene. The Afghans trapped in this scrum cannot get food or water or turn around and leave. The woman cannot get out of their vehicles and enjoy a bit of fresh air – they are stuck packed (and I mean packed) into small cars or vans where they must sit and bake in the sun unless a male relative happens to be there and agrees to walk them off to a side ditch somewhere to go to the bathroom.
The reason it seems reasonable to the French Army to close the most important road in Afghanistan is the same reason the US Army continues to roll through downtown Jalalabad instead of using the brand new high speed truck by pass which is faster and safer for them. Their focus in exclusively internal. They plan all operations, movements, and interactions with the Afghans (when they manage to get off a FOB) based on what is easiest and safest for them with no consideration of the Afghan people. This is an “effects based” opinion based on what I see daily.
The only military unit I have been able to personally observe while planning future operations was the US Marine Corps 2nd MEB. The Marines were asking the Boss and I about cutting military roads so they could avoid adversely impacting the local people in the Helmand Green Zone. Their focus was exclusively external on what was convenient for the Afghans not what was easiest for them. This may explain why they have taken such a large chunk of the Helmand River Valley and dominated it with little to no post assault fighting while the British army is unable to walk 100 meters off their combat outposts in the same river valley without getting blown up or in a fire fight.
As the security situation in Afghanistan continues to degrade it is most frustrating to see that our military is completely unable to break away from its risk adverse, zero defects, careerist mentality. I never thought it would be easy for our attrition warfare oriented military to learn the decentralized and risky business of fighting a proper counterinsurgency but I did think we would figure it out given enough time and money. But we are not even close. General McChrystal knows what needs to be done – our very own counterinsurgency doctrine also spells out how to fight in the COIN environment but our military is hobbled by Colonels and Sergeants Major who are motivated exclusively by what is good for their careers and reputations. Careerist sycophants will never think outside the box or try something new least they fail. Failure is not possible when you do exactly what the man before you did regardless of what is happening outside the wire with the Afghan people. No way to measure that so it cannot count against you on your combat command officer fitness evaluation right? The US Marines seem to be breaking this mold but they are not here in enough strength to make much of an impact and thus are irrelevant in the big picture.
ISAF is here to bring security to the people of Afghanistan so they can re-build their economy and infrastructure. But ISAF can’t protect the people of Afghanistan – they cannot even protect themselves. The reality is that we have this backwards – it is the people of Afghanistan who are able to provide the protection and security us foreigners need to operate outside the wire. All we need do is demonstrate commitment to the people thus providing a reason for them to believe in us and support our mission.
That is why my son and I can travel around as freely as we do – the people protect us – they warn us if danger is about – they look after us when we walk around the bazaars. The reason the people protect us is because everyone in Jalalabad knows who we are and what we are doing and they appreciate it. In Gardez the Taliban came to several of our projects and asked what was going on. The local people told them in no uncertain terms that the rehabilitation of their karez’s and canals was the first good thing which has happened to them since the Americans came and that if the Taliban interfered the people would fight them. The Taliban did not interfere and I suspect many of them were working on our projects – 6 bucks a day is good pay for unskilled laborers in Afghanistan.
Our FOB’s are full of men and woman who would love to have the freedom to operate like we do so they too could make a difference. I recieve emails from them daily. But our military system will not let them off the FOB’s, out of the body armor, or out of the large stupid, dangerous MRAP’s. Instead we continue to bring “security” to the local people at the point of a gun. How stupid is that?
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 10/02/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
Tim,
Your trying to use business logic (i.e. provide your customer the best service possible) to this problem. In ISAF’s case it is bringing security and stability to the Afghans so they can build their country to a reasonable state of being. However, the guys tasked with this endeavor (the military) don’t have business sense. The DoD writ large sucks money by the billions with no expectation of return on investment nor does poor performance impact your earnings/operating budget for the next quarter/year. So we shouldn’t be surprised that our ‘business plan’ to fix Afghanistan is flawed. You are correct, there are hundreds of men and women in uniform who would rather spend their day living inside a District Center interacting with the very people we are deployed here to protect. Instead, the only foreigners they meet outside their ISAF brethren are the Bangladeshi’s, Filipino’s, Russian’s, and the hundreds of other ‘TCNs’ or third country nationals paid below minimum wage to come to our large FOBs and serve up chow, suck human waste out of the sump tanks, and deliver water to our holding tanks to flush our toilets and take showers. Imagine if we spent that same money building/improving the water system in a District Center for not only our troops but something we would leave behind in the form of infrastructure improvement for the people we came here to serve/protect? I think the return on that investment would be ten-fold to say the least… However, that ain’t happening here in Afghanistan. Instead it’s all about expanding the existing FOBs spending millions/billions to sustain temporary life support for the thousands of FOB bound troops. Again, business sense coupled with a good plan would tell you that our money would be better spent building a Bde HQ inside a District Center, hiring locals, and fixing existing infrastructure to support not only our own troops but improving the lives of the Afghans we live amongst. Anyway, I need to go get some Tim Horton’s coffee because I must be crazy thinking this idea would ever take root…it’s better we stay FOB bound then let the Afghan’s see for themselves what Americans are really about…
Good stuff, stay safe and keeping telling it like it is over here…
understand it.
obama doesnt care about the afghanis at all, he doesnt want us to succeed. he and his ilk want every setback possible to occur with the most deniability or he would simply order the change. but they wont. they want another vn. they want OUR military humiliated and back in CONUS.
what other explanation can there be for a situation that is so GLARINGLY OBVIOUS!!!???
i blame the lame ass American voter who would rather listen to john stewart and eat cheese than think.
I would personally like to see Obama place a greater focus on Afghanistan. I just saw a special on CNN recently showing the ground US Solidiers have to hold and how few solidiers there are to hold it. Something needs to be done.
Babatim, wonderful stuff, this is the naked reality. We see ISAF Personnel drive around in the cities their heavy armored vehicles. They are completely out of touch with the civilians, they drive around like they consider everyone to be their enemy, and in return to this behavior Afghans think exactly in the same way. I mean if you don’t interfere in any peace keeping activities, you don’t embed with Afghan security forces then what on earth is the purpose behind driving around in the cities. They are targeted by the bad guys and with them civilians get killed too. They have people like you as consultants.
When I was in Afghanistan back in 04 it was not at all uncommon to have MVA victims airlifted into the hospital at Bagram. I wonder what happened.
The second comment (bilbo) nailed it. If units were paired with tribes or villages or neighborhoods and there was a “customer-oriented” type of focus, then this would both simplify things for the unit and send a clear message of support to the people, while providing a clearer framework for how to direct our efforts and resources. Whenever I said anything along these lines, I got a deer-in-the-headlights look. Very frustrating.
And of course, the entire post by babatim is spot on.
You write wonderfully. I’m just sorry it is such a sad situation of which you are forced to write. I found your site through Michael Yon on Twitter. Cool, isn’t it? I will pray for your safety and your safe return home, and also your family and other loved ones who are sacrificing as well. Thank God for men like you.
Tim, keep up the fire. Sometimes it’s really helpful to be seen as others see us, not how we see ourselves or how we wish to be seen.
Mirrors can be a harsh thing.
Keep being the mirror.
Hope to see you soon,
Blue
It’s just PAINFUL to hear you report these things. Keep up the great work.
Our FOB’s are full of men and woman who would love to have the freedom to operate like we do so they too could make a difference.
You’re right. And it’s what they’re best at, bringing their professional knowledge to others and helping to solve problems.
Anyway, I want to thank you for providing a tough, no nonsense critical analysis of the situation. I’m having an increasingly hard time shutting up and just being the milspouse who writes only about kids, hobbies, and things that worry me. I’ve been a writer far longer than most have even been alive, and my red carpet into writing as was an advocate for a large NPO in DC. Let’s just say, looking at issues like this is right up my alley, and yet this weekend when I sent out an email and voiced some damned strong opinions I was roundly smacked down by –you guessed it… milspouses.
So let me put it to you this way. If the men and women who support their spouses over there can’t say what they think, what good is my role as a civilian who has a different perspective and might be able to shed some of it with those on the outside who just don’t care?
Anyway, keep up the good work. I am, as ever, opinionated too.
This blog is really, really good because it adds something different and insightful to the discussion. The photo above of the women at the bus-stop is breathtaking. Keep up the great work and looking forward to hearing more from you guys!
Dear Babatim,
I don’t see any contact info for you. I would like to ask you for your opinion on something but don’t want to put on comments on this site. Please send me an email so I can email you personally.
P2 please check your anti-American bigotry and hate at the doorway. Your post might be worth something if you left out the LAME-ASS stereotype about Americans. Judgmental moron you are!