Sarah Carter, National Security Correspondent for the Washington Examiner, recently discussed the down side for coalition troops resulting from the rules of engagement (ROE) and counter insurgency strategy (COIN).
For the U.S. Army soldiers and Marines serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan, some things seem so obviously true that they are beyond debate.
Among those perceived truths:
The restrictive rules of engagement that they have to fight under have made serving in combat far more dangerous for them, while allowing the Taliban to return to a position of strength.
When they use rockets to hit a forward operating base (FOB) troops can’t shoot back because the insurgents were within 500 meters of the village. If they shoot at coalition troops and drop their weapon in the process ROE prevent the military from shooting back.
Word had come down recently that watchtowers surrounding the base were going to be dismantled because Afghan village elders, some sympathetic to the Taliban, complained they were invading their village privacy.
U.S. Marines the Army have to take down our towers because it offends them and now the Taliban can set up mortars and Army and Marines there can’t see them.
In June, Gen. David Petraeus, who took command after Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told Congress that he was weighing a major change with rules for engaging enemy fighters in Afghanistan.
That has not yet happened. Soldiers and Marines continue to be held back by what they believe to be strict rules imposed by the government of President Hamid Karzai designed with one objective: limit Afghan civilian casualties.
While this may all seem absurd, the accompanying video indicates such rules are effective in the long run. By not killing and injuring innocent civilians they will tend to provide coalition troops with more information, turning in Taliban while providing much additionally needed human intelligence on the ground.
In doing so those making the rules are betting that the war can actually be won and much more quickly.
On this Veterans Day we must thank those who have fallen or been injured in past wars, as well as the brave men and women currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan under rules they may not understand but follow risking life and limb in the process. Veterans Day is a perfect day for prayer.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, I’m J.C.
Jim Campbell runs Charging Elephants.
