The Dutch in Afghanistan
A good, interesting article in the New York Times about Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan and about the tactics used by them to fight the Taliban:
rather than advancing for reconnaissance or to attack, the Dutch soldiers pulled back to a safer village. “We’re not here to fight the Taliban,� said the Dutch commander, Col. Hans van Griensven, at a recent staff meeting. “We’re here to make the Taliban irrelevant.�
Thousands of fresh Western troops have flowed into Afghanistan since last year, seeking to counter the resurgent Taliban before an expected spring offensive. Many American units have been conducting sweeps and raids.
But here in Uruzgan Province, where the Taliban operate openly, a Dutch-led task force has mostly shunned combat. Its counterinsurgency tactics emphasize efforts to improve Afghan living conditions and self-governance, rather than hunting the Taliban’s fighters. Bloodshed is out. Reconstruction, mentoring and diplomacy are in. American military officials have expressed unease about the Dutch method, warning that if the Taliban are not kept under military pressure in Uruzgan, they will use the province as a haven and project their insurgency into neighboring provinces.
To which my government / military replies:
The Dutch counter that construction projects and consistent political and social support will lure the population from the Taliban, allowing the central and provincial governments to expand their authority over the long term.
The Americans can criticize all they want, but just fighting won’t do the trick. If we want to remove the Taliban completely, we have to rebuild Afghanistan / Uruzgan. Focusing on ‘just’ the fighting is understandable, but won’t be enough.
On the other hand, allowing the Taliban to re-group and to create a safe haven is not exactly an option either. As one Afghan interpreter said: “The Dutch, if the fight starts, they run inside their vehicles every time. They say, ‘We came for peace, not to fight.’ And I say, ‘If you don’t fight, you cannot have peace in Afghanistan.’”
I am not sure whether that sends the right message people. Too much fighting might be counterproductive, as Colonel van Griensven believes, but too little fighting is not exactly productive either, or so it seems to me.
Anyway, it is an interesting approach. It has worked in southern Iraq, lets hope it also works in Afghanistan.
(To be) cross posted at my own blog.
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7 Responses to “The Dutch in Afghanistan”
“We’re not here to fight the Taliban,� said the Dutch commander, Col. Hans van Griensven, at a recent staff meeting. “We’re here to make the Taliban irrelevant.�
I love this commanders response. I just wished the antiwar would take this to heart. The war on terror is not about winning. Its about making terror irrelevant.
This commander gets it.
It’s too bad the U.S. military didn’t understand that from the get go.
Because they did not understand that from the get go we are then to give up and come home?
If the antiwar stops demanding VICTORY then the military can contain terrorism and win a victory. If victory is defined as a democratic Iraq who loves the USA then its a pipe dream for all concerned.
Lol yea, once again its the antiwar people that are preventing a “Victory”. Thats the stupidest damn arguement I’ve ever heard on these boards period. Because of what exactly? All the money they’ve held from our soldiers? What exactly is the left doing that caused Bush to be completely unable to advance the ball these last four years? All the administration does is move the goalposts with every bite of the reality sandwich they take.
In fact, I’m pretty sure they haven’t even concretely declared what victory is, because they don’t even know exactly whats going on over there. Its part of the reason no progress has been made in that last 4 years. Did I say no progress? I’m sorry, I mean why we’ve actually backslid some.
I think its quite intelligent. Who is demanding the USA to come home? The antiwar.
Who is calling Bush Heir Hitler and the decider and a 1000 other names? The Antiwar.
Who is spending day and night on these boards claiming the war is lost and no one loves us any more and we have to quit and come home? The antiwar.
Lol yea, once again its the antiwar people that are preventing a “Victory�. Thats the stupidest damn arguement I’ve ever heard on these boards period.
Well yours is the stupidest response I have ever heard to my stupidest reason to fight the war on these boards period.
The question of how much violence to apply in a counter-insurgency is an enduring one and there are no easy pat answers.
I think you’re right: finding the balance between too much and too little of a forward presence is the key. Sadly, there seems to be little in the way of solid evaluation–instead, you have each implementer trumpeting their own model. You may be interested in my post on these approaches at http://www.AfghanistanWatch.org (I cite your blog.) -Carl