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| Stewart Nusbaumer: Covering Crucial Afghanistan Operation |
| Kabul, Afghanistan - Having been in Afghanistan for four months, traveling around the country and reporting on the war, now the "crucial operation" of the war is in full swing. And where am I? In the brutal grip of one devastating hangover! In the empty Mustafa hotel - the other journalists fled to the "biggest operation of the war." In boiling hot Helmand Province, the fellow journalists are investigating every footstep, every footstep allowed to be reported; shooting pictures from every angle, every angle allowed. Some 4,000-plus US Marines are storming down the Helmand River Valley in "the mother of all Afghan operations," to borrow a phrase from the recent past. Yet, I'm not wondering why I'm still in Kabul. What I'm wondering is why all the other journalists left the party. It doesn't make sense. What they are now reporting in that miserably hot desert they could have reported on from the comfortable and cool lounge of the Mustafa hotel. Here is my report, from the comfortable and cool. This large Marine force is being divided into small groups and are establishing fortifications on the edge of towns and villages. After the Marines, with Afghan forces, establish initial security -- actually, the area is already secure, enforced by the Taliban - then will come development projects. Small public projects, water spigots, irrigation ditches, repairing school roofs, weekly medical clinics. Small projects that the Marines hope are greatly appreciated by the Afghans. If security holds, then the NGOs will arrive to manage larger projects, such as electrification, road improvements, crop substitution programs, etc. At the same time, private contractors will work to give some coherence to the political system. First, however, are Marines are organizing meetings with village elders. They understand white hair is greatly respected in Afghanistan. The Marines will ascertain the needs of the villages and decide what they and the reconstruction teams can deliver. But there is a catch, a crucial catch. For community improvements to happen there must be ongoing security, which requires the cooperation of local Afghans. They must become the E&E -- the eyes and ears -- of their communities and furnish intelligence to security forces. Otherwise the Taliban will be the E&E of the community and.... Finally, the Afghan Army and government are being presented as partners with the Marines and US reconstruction teams. The security forces and development improvements are intended to enhance the image of the Afghanistan government -- the national government, but also provincial and district governments. The ultimate goal is to bring local Afghans closer to their government. Not an easy task. The Afghan government has never done anything for these citizens, especially in the Taliban controlled south, and the government's closest representatives, the police, are rightfully viewed as parasites. So that is the overall plan of this new campaign now storming through the stronghold of the Taliban. Success will obviously take several years, if there is any success. So, why did my fellow journalists race to southern Helmand Province? This is not a conventional war, but an irregular war. The focus is not on killing the enemy but on protecting the people and enabling development. They won't see any serious fighting -- only brain-dead foamers believe the Taliban will go head-to-head against large numbers of Marines, with their mean Apaches circling overhead. A few hundred Marines, one company, would have been sufficient to dampen any Taliban enthusiasm to fight. In fact, in the last two days -- since this "crucial" operation in the south shot out of the starting blocks -- more NATO and US soldiers and Marines have been killed in the eastern part of the country along the border with Pakistan than in the south. As for the Taliban's plan - they've had months to craft one since for months everyone has known the Marines were going to storm south -- step one is to evade the storming Marines. The Taliban has melted into the friendly population while others are squirting across the border into Pakistan. Forget the Pakistan Army blocking the border; it's a "forest" in the desert. Those Taliban remaining in southern Helmand will be crucial for intelligence and logistical support, while many of those leaving Afghanistan will later re-infiltrate to fight. That is step two, fight later. This is as far as the Taliban strategy goes. It's as far as any insurgency ever goes: disperse, unite, disperse..... Now, instead of blitzing the desert, why didn't the Marines simple unfold themselves over several weeks? It would have been easier and more efficient and possibly safer, right? There is no reason to stretch resources and tax humans when not absolutely necessary. This current mad dash in the south is reminiscent of the mad rush to Baghdad, both predicated upon "faster is better." Strange, since the US military is a huge bureaucratic machine that doesn't do anything fast, which is probably why they want to do something fast. But in the mad rush to Baghdad, the Marines and Army refused to stop and secure hundreds of munitions depots - "time is of the essence!" Yet, those left unguarded explosives were soon blowing up Americans. It was a stupid plan, with deadly consequences. But I'm missing the real story of this mad blitz into the desert. Moving large numbers of troops, pressing relentlessly forward, the stress and strain, the bold goals proclaiming this is a "decisive operation!" Simple and dramatic in short time frame. It's made for TV! Ideal for newspaper headlines! Great for brief radio dispatches! The audience back home gets hooked. Ratings go up! Not this time, however. Americans are tired of war stories, having too much reality in their heads. But the media is desperate, so they have rolled out as a big-time story the the "largest operation of the war." War stories generally hide more than they expose. What seems to be exciting and important is most often the preface to the substance of war. The truly important - in Helmand the establishment of trust between two sides, the building of projects, the deepening of trust, the building of institutions -- unfold painfully slow over years, and never in a straight line, never without frustration and disagreements. Before the first success is even recorded our pumped journalists will be long gone. When they have left, I will leave Kabul and catch a flight down to Helmand. Then the Marines will be in full operation. The civil affairs teams will be delivering their first projects. The NGOs will be having their projects approved. The Taliban will be laying IEDs and conducting hit-and-run attacks. The training of the Afghan police will be in full-swing. The real war will have started. The real war is the war to win "the hearts and minds" of Afghans in the Taliban's strongest stronghold. Then the real reporting needs to happen. Meanwhile, I'm staying put in the Mustafa Hotel's lounge. Hey, for now I have it all to myself. More on Afghanistan |
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