VIDEO BLOG
Episode 5: “How to Win in Afghanistan”
History’s lessons point to a radical method of war-fighting and peace-making, quite different from what the U.S. currently has in play. As Rod Serling used to say, “submitted for your approval.”
View the credits and transcript for Episode 5.
Dear Sir
I respect your opinion. I also know that your ideas will probably never be administered in this
conflict. There is an aspect of our tribe of leaders which hasn’t been mentioned, “ego”. Do you not beleive? President Bush wasn’t riding a tank into Bagdad. He was riding “ego”. I simply state it aspect. I suspect we will pull out long before any progress can be made with the tribes. Time is not on our side, not at the rate we are spending in this conflict. I think people have it all wrong. This economy is not as low as it can go. Recession is not the appropraite lable for what is happening today. What was happening yesterday was a “Surge”. What’s happening today in the economy is closer to normal, between parameters. Yes, their are areas of downturn. The war is a contributor to these downturn. I’m not opposed to buying their (tribes) loyalty. We already do that all over the world. What this citizen hopes for is tolerance, tolerance from both sides. It almost seems as if you hope to focus these Al-Qaida somewhere else. They certainly are not going away. Check out Spain, Russia, Indonesia, and the Philippnes. And I don’t think Isreal is going to have any luck buying off Hezbollah.
These are thought off the top of my head.
I think you are right for the most part.
dan
How much “toleration” do you think you are going to get from terrorists who belives their god rewards them if they murder you? How much “toleration” do you think you can get from terrorists who rape children (Beslan) or cut the heads of captives (Iraq,Pakisatan, Afgaistan)?
Then there is this is the big lie of the Left. That the war is costing so much it is dragging down the economy.
In 8 years oo war we have YET to spend as much as the “Stimulus” bill passed this spring promises. The cost of 8 years of war does not even cover the cost of the last “Cost of Living” adjustment given to Soc Security recipients.
If you accept the notion that Govt spending on the war is “dagging down the economy” then you must also accept the idea that the massively larger amounts spent on social programs and entitlements are doing much much much more damage to the US economy.
Steven -
I just watched all episodes and would like to see you discuss the relationship between organized religion (in general) to tribalismto see if there would be any difference: your ideas here were specific to Islam(which I presume was your initial intent?)—it seems they could be applied just as easily to Christianity (perhaps as it is practiced in the U.S, to limit this discussion), in terms of views about belonging, moralities etc and conduct towards women by men.
One of the things I found problematic was the idea of Islam being only a militaristic faith, where it “prizes male virtues and suppresses women”. You seem to ignore the reality of there being numerous sects of Islam, the implications being the same as there being numerous sects of Christianity, some of which repress women also.
When you mention that “Islam brings an expansionist dimension to tribalism”, I immediately wonder if the majority of us, i.e the working middle class, favor the alternative should the US succeed there: the expansionist alternative of free-market capitalism that turns people there into modern-day slaves for the wealthy few. Perhaps then we would really have a lot in common with them.
While I’m definitely not in favor of the the human rights violations that the Afghans have done in the name of honor and law, perhaps people here in the U.S ought to look at rape and spousal abuse stats before casting stones over an entire religion, or people. At a rape every 6 minutes, a battered woman every 15 seconds, it’s a little sobering what we do on US soil.
That all said, it is problematic that you seem to need to vilify the other (Islam/Tribalism etc etc) even though we have the same issues here…. and then position America as generous enough to sit down a make a deal to make the world a better place.
Having been brought up a catholic in Dubai ( now in NYC), I just think it’s dangerous to approach a complex organized religion, with such a rich history with reductionist broad strokes.
Dear Steve, Very interesting and thank you for taking the trouble of explaining the Tribal structure in Afghanistan. Just a few points to be noted: 1) We need to know the difference between a Warlord and a Tribal Chief. Warlord is the leader of a militia group which has imposed himself on people, but a Tribal Chief is an elected body who works for the benifit and welfare of his people. For example: During the civil war back in the 90’s Warlords like Hekmatyar, Rabani, Sayaf, Masoud, Mazari, Muhaqiq & Dostum killed over 60,000 innocent men, women and children and fought among themselves just to get to the throne of Kabul. But Tribal chiefs will never fight over power, infact whenever there was anarchy in Afghanistan, tribal chiefs brought in a proper governemnt in place and fought the waring factions. The Talibans could never be considered as Tribesmen, although they might be made of Pashtun’s majority but it will be wrong to even imagine that they are Tribesmen. There are 3 kinds of Taliban: 1) those who joins the group for some money, 2) those who joins for Tribal afiliation, 3) Those who are ideologically motivated. I believe a fight needs to be continued against those who are ideologically motivated by Al Qaida. We also need to fight the Warlords who makes much of Karzai’s team and of course his strongest opposition.
The Afghans are fed up with this empty and boring tune of Democracy which has brought nothing but disaster, Afghanistan is facing terrible problems now, after the US intervention Afghanistan had a Chance to move forward, but the US empowered the same warlords who are the initial reason for Talibans creation. The 2004 Presidential election was a mile stone for implementing a true democracy, but the man who the west was in love with was so weak that instead he became the Mayor of Kabul!
I am not criticising the US’s selection, I am sure Karzai was backed for all the right reasons. When you unleash a deer to walk around in your garden and show the peaceful authomosphair of your lovely green garden you lock all the Lions, tigers and wolfs!
I guess the US forgot to lock the deadly lions, Tigers and Wolfs thats why the Deer run away from the Garden & confied itself only to it’s cage just to save it’s life!
I agree with every bit of wot you have said here in regard to the tribes in Afghanistan and I really hope the US government should rather focus on history a bit and listen to people like you. The US has one card to play and that is the “Tribe” card, if the US gets the backing and the support of the Tribes, the US will win this war, if not then God knows. Brilliant work and please keep up the great work. Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai
Nuke the entire country.
Steve, these episodes are very well done and best of all in simple language that everyone can understand.
In the west, you can still see tribalism functioning in North American society. I have many East Indian friends and tribalism is rife in their community. It’s amazing to see grandmothers living in the same homes as their grand children. In many ways this is the key to a happy and long life. Not being isolated from your family/tribe, being part of something greater than yourself and knowing that your tribe will live on. No wonder all kids are looking to gangs these days!
People crave tribalism it’s who we evolved to be!
Sorry I meant “No wonser all THESE kids are looking to gangs these days.” Not all kids.
wonder
Steven, just watched all five episodes. Loved every bit of it and absolutely agree with everything you said. I truly think the situation is so complex in Afghanitan today that we need to be realisitc in what we can expect as a suitable outcome. We learned early on in Afghanistan that living with the locals within the tribes for longer than 3 months was critical to success over there. Of course, as Jim Gant mentions, allowing a few “cowboys” to go “rogue”… or “go tribal” as we often heard, doesn’t sit well with the decision makers enjoying the hot showers and chow back in the rear. Agree with Gant’s assessment as well. His team concept wouldn’t work in every province or valley, but it would sure be significant in many others. Thanks for taking the time to explain it all. Great stuff!
Many thanks, Dalton. Read “Kill Bin Laden” and thought it was terrific. Congratulations! And thanks for taking the time to watch all five videos. Kind words coming from someone who has “walked the ground” mean a lot. Thanks for taking the time to post them. I appreciate it!
Steven, appreciate the response. Your videos definitely would have helped in the early days for sure. I’m sure they will have a positive and wide spread impact today. We understood the tribe culture very little back then and I’m afraid at certain levels of our military we still do. Often times the men that “walk the ground” can’t see past the maximum effective range of their personal weapon…I’m just as guilty of this as the next guy. More importantly though, intuition, on-the-ground experience, and tacit knowledge held by men like Gant and his SF mates is sometimes underappreciated (and thus suppressed) by the men that walk the TOC or the FOB three hours away by helo. Vision limited to the last slide in the Concept of Ops PPT makes the tribal engagement stuff tough on the men in the field. You may have heard of one of America’s very best – MSG William “Chief” Carlson – who was killed in southeastern AF in 2003. Chief was from the Blackfeet Tribe and at his funeral services, before lowering the casket, Chief was honored by his ancestors in Blackfeet tradition with drum beats, smoke signals, and native song and dance. In 2002, Chief was sent to a previously unchartered area to link up with a tribe southwest of Jalalabad. We didn’t hear from him for a few months it seemed as he definitely went “tribal” and when we finally linked up again to execute a hit on an AQ supporter the effectiveness of his efforts was obvious. The tribal members truly looked up to Chief, deferred often to his tactical recommendations, trusted him completely, and I have no doubt would have given their lives for him w/o hesitation. He had accomplished what Gant speaks of in record time…but then it was time to rotate home. If there is one thing I know about McChrystal it is that he embraces initiatives and risk taking for the right reasons – like Gant’s TET proposal. I think he would support it and knowing him he has already been trying to push this idea for years. He will be the last General to “require” Kevlar and body armor of an operator. He demands commitment (and risk) at a level few believe they even have in them. A commitment the likes of Gant’s initiative. Anyone who takes the time to read his recently leaked Commander’s Assessment would have to agree. I believe there are many men who would jump at the chance to sacrifice what is required to stay engaged with the same tribe for years at a time. Chief didn’t want to leave his tribe in AF either.
Please keep up the great work! My buddy just asked me for my copy of The Afghan Campaign.
Hi Steve
love your 5 part series on Tribalism.
In your 5th part you go over what you think is needed to be done for the west to finally win over there (which I enjoyed listening to).
I think you should have also covered a different route that can be taken to achieve victory.
If the US forces and their allies withdraw from Afghanistan, you might argue that the Taliban will slowly take over there. I say there is an argument against that, tribalism by your very definition would war against them, especially with the vacuum left by the US. But lets say the Taliban do take over and begin to spread out from there.
The fear in the USA is that the Taliban will have a ‘launching pad’ to which to strike out against from. This may have been convincingly argued at the beginning of this war, but I say it is less so now.
The world has changed from then and it is no longer just US influences that are trying to infiltrate Afghanistan. The ways of the west might not have penetrated Afghanistan yet, but they have converted neighboring countries; China, India, Russia and even to some extent Pakistan.
If the Taliban were left alone and allowed to take over Afghanistan, their influence would therefore spread over a larger area. The larger the area to control the more chance that a revolt will happen and with neighbors with western ideas on the borders the Taliban wouldn’t even bother with the USA but try with all their might to keep back the giant powerhouses on their doorstep.
Why go to war with a country half a planet away when corporations, and western ideals are boarding your country? Add to that world wide media like the internet slowly but surely causing doubt in their minds and I say in the long term you will find Afghanistan willingly turn to the west in the end.
Just like you pointed out in your series the cold war was finally won without a shot being fired or a bomb dropped, even though it took 50 years.
This is not exactly true, the real reasons were two, there was a generational change (after 50 years the ‘old guard’ had moved on and the newer generation was in power) and as you pointed out, the USA did not escalate the situation by dropping bombs (in short for all that time the USA ’sat on their hands’).
Same thing here, if the USA do ‘nothing’ after a generation the Afghanistans will change over because they ‘want’ to, not because they were ‘forced’ to.
Anyway, that is my 2 cents, loved your show.
We “did nothing” from 1989 to 1991. We got 09-11.
You seem to ignore the reality of there being numerous sects of Islam, the implications being the same as there being numerous sects of Christianity, some of which repress women al
All of which treat women as, at best, 2nd class citizens. Where as none but the most obsure, fringe Christian sects treat women as anything less then fully equal.
To compare the 2 as some how morally equivalent is absurd. Until the supporters of Islam start having an honest discussion of the short coming of their faith, instead of making absurd excuse for it, the can be no serious reformation in Islam.