Afghanistan

An Open Letter to Gen. James Jones, National Security Advisor

By Steven Pressfield | Published: October 9, 2009

[This week has been a rough one for our troops in Afghanistan--and a contentions one among policymakers here in the States.  I'm going to interrupt our ongoing interview with tribal chief Ajmal Khan Zazai to post this open letter.  The same note was sent by e-mail two days ago to the parties below.]

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Posted in Afghanistan, Agora, An Interview with an Afghan Tribal Chief, Editorial
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Afghanistan

Tribal Engagement Teams

By Steven Pressfield | Published: October 5, 2009

Last week in our first excerpt from Special Forces Major Jim Gant’s paper, “One Tribe At A Time,” Maj. Gant laid out the concept for a specialized type of American unit–a Tribal Engagement Team. Such teams would be small, highly trained and motivated, and granted broad latitude in the means of pursuing their mission. They would live full-time in the villages with the tribes, “lead, assist, train, supply,” and help organize Tribal Security Forces (TSFs.)

Dr. Akhbar was the first person ODA 316 met in Mangwel village

Posted in Afghanistan, Agora, One Tribe At A Time
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Afghanistan

Part 2: Warlords

By Steven Pressfield | Published: October 2, 2009

SP: Welcome back, Chief Zazai, for this second installment of our multi-part interview. As our readers know from last week, you are a paramount chief of eleven tribes in your home district, the Zazi Valley in Paktia province. Your father fought the Soviets and the Taliban and was assassinated in 2000; you yourself have fought those fights and have survived two recent attempts on your own life. It’s a pleasure and a privilege for me to be able to talk with you today.

Chief Zazai: Thank you, Mr. Pressfield, for affording me this opportunity to tell a side of the Afghan story that we see very little of in the American media. (more…)

Posted in Afghanistan, Agora, An Interview with an Afghan Tribal Chief
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