No More Night Terrors

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard

No More Night Terrors
Erica Gaston, Foreign Policy, 23 Feb 2010

An airstrike in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, yesterday is estimated to have killed as many as 27 civilians. The news of this airstrike has yet again stoked questions of whether a counterinsurgency strategy can be effectively carried out in Afghanistan, and if not, what the overall prospects of success in Afghanistan really are. Reducing airstrikes is key: these are the most visible and publicly inflammatory tactics that international forces use. But airstrikes, or the conduct of the coalition forces operating in Marjah, are only part of the picture; other practices that are equally important in terms of rebuilding Afghan trust and moving toward stability in Afghanistan have been routinely ignored and not seriously addressed.

The most serious outstanding example of this is the continued reliance on night raids, which my organization, the Open Society Institute, explores in a recently released report. Night raids are when military forces, usually a mixed group of internationals and Afghans, force entry into an Afghan home in the middle of the night, search the premises and usually detain one or more men of the family. Reports of abuse -- punching, slapping, or other mistreatment -- during these raids are frequent. According to the UN, at least 98 civilians were killed in these incidents in 2009.

Though night raids do not result in as many deaths as airstrikes, they can be as lethal to public opinion, if not more so. In terms of creating enemies, it's hard to do worse than breaking into someone's house at night, taking actions that are viewed as violating the women of the household, and hauling family members to unknown detention sites for weeks to months.

I was recently speaking to a group of Afghan National Army commanders who had just been trained in new counterinsurgency strategy about the importance of protecting and respecting civilians. He told me I should save my lessons for international forces. "Just last week they raided my house and three members of my family were taken away," he shouted, obviously enraged. "If they continue like this, soon I will become an insurgent rather than a counterinsurgent!"

Our research showed that even if the number of airstrikes decreases, night raids perpetuate Afghan impressions that international forces are abusive outsiders who wantonly or purposefully kill Afghans with no accountability to the law. These practices contradict international forces' public promises of population protection, and make it harder for international forces to speak credibly when incidents like the airstrike in Uruzgan do happen.

No one questions that it is necessary to detain and question suspects who might be aiding and abetting the ongoing insurgency. But the broader strategic goals of supporting the rule of law and regaining Afghan trust are seriously undermined when the default procedure for doing so is to break into homes at night with guns, dogs, and back-up, and absolutely no mechanism for monitoring or follow-up of reported abuse. For several years there have been serious concerns about the conduct of pro-government forces, particularly of U.S. Special Forces, intelligence personnel, and local militias, involved in these raids. Yet even high level officials have found it virtually impossible to identify those involved in a raid to hold them accountable.

There is reportedly a new directive on night raids, though still classified, which addresses some of these concerns. This is an important step, but the fact that this new directive has remained classified suggests that international forces have still not gotten the message that the lack of accountability over these practices is a large part of what is so unacceptable.

Though the continued pressure on airstrikes and on the overall conduct of operations like those in Marjah and in Uruzgan is important, it should not come at the cost of ignoring other practices that equally influence the effectiveness of the overall strategy in Afghanistan. In part II of this blog, I'll go into greater depth on what we found were the serious concerns and fixes for night raids.

NOTE: Erica Gaston is a human rights lawyer for the Open Society Institute, specializing in civilian casualty issues. She is based in Kabul.


http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts..._night_terrors

[The Reaper]

Okay class.

Why do you think we conduct raids at night to look for contraband and capture possible insurgents?

TR

[head]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Okay class.

Why do you think we conduct raids at night to look for contraband and capture possible insurgents?

TR

Because that's when there's nothing good on AFN.

[TOMAHAWK9521]

Because that's the best time to find them indisposed with their favorite goat and there's little chance their wives will catch them?

[craigepo]

Hilarious. I almost choked on my pop-tart.

Shouldn't this writer have to have some credentials to write this type of story, other than being a lawyer? I would be more impressed if her signature line stated her name, occupation, and then "she was a soldier" or "her dad was in Da Nang" or "she had an affair with a Ranger".

[Snaquebite]

While I agree with most of the comments, I believe there is more to this than meets the eye.

Another Article:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/0..._raids_022410/

Posted : Friday Feb 26, 2010 5:26:26 EST

KABUL — American troops knocked on the door, and before the Afghan family could find the key to let them in, the soldiers broke it down.

There was no time to take women in the home to another place, said 77-year-old Mohammad Nabi. And that’s what troubled the retired school teacher most about the intrusion in the southern town of Marjah.

“If they ask us to take our women and daughters in another place and then they do the search, we have no problems,” Nabi told an Associated Press reporter. “We will cooperate with them. But they just enter the house and start searching and they don’t care who is there.”

A new directive, confirmed Wednesday by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, aims to limit such nighttime raids on civilians. It was prompted by a storm of complaints from Afghans who, like Nabi, who were enraged over foreign soldiers bursting into their homes.

The move is the most recent by coalition forces to woo the Afghan public away from the Taliban.

Unless a mission calls for a "raid" type actions, cordon and "knock" can accomplish much more in a COIN environment, developing assets, intel and other info you would not during a raid. I didn't see anything saying "night operations" would be effected...only "raids".

From my sources many Bdes, Bns and Co's have become lazy regarding intel development and conduct these raids with no rhyme or reason.

Quote from a friend:

everything i have seen with McChrystal cracking down on things is because of a serious amount of laziness and abuse BDE/BN/Company levels.
I am betting that nighttime raids were limited because instead of doing their jobs (which is hard, and very personnel intensive) there are a decent amount of units that are just going out and kicking in doors because they received an anonymous tip or a gut feeling.
To me this whole thing is a rather simple message from the boss - act like adults and do the right thing or we will treat you like children.

I am of the opinion the this may be a way for forcing commanders to balance COIN and killing the enemy and do their jobs correctly. If you are interacting with the population (correctly) you will develop the kind of actionable intelligence that leads to killing the enemy.

I try to read between the lines when I see these news articles.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
- Sun Tzu

[alright4u]

I do not listen to any SOB or to this young female writing a piece for a human rights group. Another HLS program for progressives.

[Snaquebite]

Originally Posted by alright4u

I do not listen to any SOB or to this young female writing a piece for a human rights group. Another HLS program for progressives.

Exactly why I posted the second link....

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by Snaquebite

Exactly why I posted the second link....

I should have read the entire exchange.

My mistake.

[blue02hd]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Okay class.

Why do you think we conduct raids at night to look for contraband and capture possible insurgents?

TR

"Because they mostly come at night. Mostly,,,,,,"

[ZonieDiver]

Originally Posted by blue02hd

"Because they mostly come at night. Mostly,,,,,,"

"Great! Why don'tcha put her in charge?"

[Peregrino]

Maybe it's time to declare peace, come home, and leave her there (forever) to enjoy the fruits of her labors. In fairness, Snaquebite's comments are on track with some of the stuff I've heard too. Course I stand by my first comment; I get to walk past the Memorial Wall in front of USASOC on a daily basis. Seeing it have to be expanded because we're running out of room and reading drivel like Ms. Gaston spews infuriates me.

[TF Kilo]

Setting all the pieces in place for a full raid then knocking and playing somewhat nice is not hard to do at all. We did it all the time.

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by TF Kilo

Setting all the pieces in place for a full raid then knocking and playing somewhat nice is not hard to do at all. We did it all the time.

Exactly. To win the hearts and minds you don't have to kill them all first.
In a radio news story they quoted a displaced local who said, in effect, "I'll take my family home when SOMEONE is in control."
They are starting to not care anymore. They just want the killing to stop. I imagine many might answer this question: Taliban or US? Like this: Well . . . I do sort of like the American. Except when they kill us. It is usually an accident, but they are so good at it.

[Richard]

And so it goes...

Richard