Afghanistan is not Vietnam but the types of mistakes are the same. Not checking and rechecking "intelligence" so you know you are not just being used to settle a private score. Really knowing the culture so you do not accomplish exactly the opposite of your goals. If you don't want a repeat of people clinging to helicopters as the last allied forces leave, you need to listen to stories like these.
Ghosts before dawn
On Wednesday I flew to Urgun in East Paktika to meet with some people at the US military base in order to try to get the other side of the story about this marauding Afghan commander employed by Special Operations Forces (SOF), who is apparently striking terror into the hearts of the local population down in one of Paktika's southern districts.
“They need to analyse their reports. Do they realize that there could be issues of personal enmity or a land dispute influencing such reports? People who want revenge for whatever reason sometimes just go to Special Forces and tell them lies about people. The ANSF are sometimes corrupt but at least they know who is who here. They should do these searches. The people here have already been disappointed. We want peace, we want reconstruction. But these Americans are just insulting us”. |
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