Kelly ThomasJune 29, 2010

Christoph Bangert for The New York Times

Below is a link to a great article about baby-faced Lt. Colonel Guy Jones efforts to do nation building in the Arghandab District(just north of Kandahar) of Afghanistan. The article affirms how impossible nation building is along with the counter-insurgency policy(COIN) which rewrites the role of the military in the this type of war.

In the COIN doctrine, the less force the better and "do not shoot first" is the mantra.

Infantry soldiers are tasked to establish relationships with incorrupt local leaders to get trust of the people plus get rid of terrorists and not shoot. In the old days, a Special Forces "A" Team which was self-contained (with the various members of the Team trained in their specialty) were equipped to go into a village and work with the people, much like I'm reading in Afghanistan. But the job in Afghanistan is more difficult based on history, culture, corruption and we are still doing it with infantrysoldiers.

If we can be at all successful in Afghanistan, it could take years and years. The eternally optimistic Colonel Jones(on his fourth tour in Afghanistan) thinks it will be great in 5 years. But aren't we "drawing down" troops next year?

Article:

Afghanistan's Civic War(Discusses Nation Building and Colonel Jones) from NYT magazine

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