‘The government does nothing for me’

Capt. Matt Quiggle, commander, A Troop, 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Legion, meets with the new ANA Maywand company commander, Capt. Sayed Asif, at the ANA base nearby COP Ramrod.


‘The government does nothing for me’
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 7, 2009 5:24:55 EST

HUTAL, Afghanistan — The cocks were still crowing and the rising sun had yet to banish the chill from the air, but Blackwatch Company’s clearing operation was already going well.

A couple of kilometers to the north, other elements from 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, had struck the first insurgent-laid bomb of the day, one that would cost a soldier his leg. But in the village of Hutal — a maze-like warren of narrow alleys, mud-walled compounds and lush green marijuana fields — Blackwatch’s infantry and civil affairs troops went from home to home, searching buildings and conducting a mini-census, questioning the heads of the households on their tribal affiliation and gathering information on the needs of the village.

The locals welcomed the soldiers warmly and seemed to speak freely. It was basic population-centric counterinsurgency, designed to help the troops fill gaps in their knowledge of the area while disrupting Taliban operations. But one important ingredient that most experts deem essential to a successful counterinsurgency campaign was largely missing: Afghan security forces.

Afghan National Army troops were supposed to play a role in the Nov. 17 mission, but they failed to show up by the time Blackwatch’s Stryker vehicles rolled out of Combat Outpost Rath a little after 5 a.m., a situation that soldiers here say is not entirely out of character for ANA. Eighteen of their Afghan National Police counterparts had at least turned up, but, typically, they showed almost no interest in participating in — or even listening to — the conversations with the locals.

The situation captured in a microcosm what U.S. officers here say is their greatest challenge: In a war in which they are trying to build popular support for the Afghan government, that government is almost totally absent from the lives of the population here in Maywand district, at the western edge of Kandahar province.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/army_COIN_120709w/