Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Soldiers as armed Teachers
In his book The Utility of Force General Rupert Smith calls the form of conflict we seen in the twenty-first century, "War Amongst the People," to differentiate it from the interstate wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. War amongst the people is war for hearts and minds.
At its simplest it is a struggle between two groups for the loyalty and support of the population in which the groups are present. Each side presents a narrative or vision and then tries to get the population to accept their vision. This can be accomplished by positively (charity, public relations) or negatively (intimidation, extortion). The violence comes from attack the agents and infrastructure of the opposing narrative. For example, Insurgents attacking the police in Iraq are preventing the American narrative of a democratic western Iraq. Victory is rare definitive but not impossible. The Iraqi War is a good example of a hearts war. It is also a good example of how to loose one.
Western nations have a major advantage in this form of conflict that they have largely ignored. The west has a powerful narrative, that of personal prosperity. People come to the west from the rest of the world for that prosperity and a lesser degree for the civil and social liberties. The strongest force for personal prosperity in the world is education. The Taliban know this, the Jihadis know this, people in the west have said this, but people have not realized how true this is. People who are being educated have access to knew worlds and new opportunities. This means that they have options other then those presented by the jihadis.
In Afghanistan, people turn to the Taliban for economic and security reasons. They need the money the Taliban pays stay alive. We can match that money easily, pay the peasants to learn to read (and make them read our propaganda while they learn). This will cripple the supply of fighters for the Taliban and strengthen our narrative in the region.
Jax
At its simplest it is a struggle between two groups for the loyalty and support of the population in which the groups are present. Each side presents a narrative or vision and then tries to get the population to accept their vision. This can be accomplished by positively (charity, public relations) or negatively (intimidation, extortion). The violence comes from attack the agents and infrastructure of the opposing narrative. For example, Insurgents attacking the police in Iraq are preventing the American narrative of a democratic western Iraq. Victory is rare definitive but not impossible. The Iraqi War is a good example of a hearts war. It is also a good example of how to loose one.
Western nations have a major advantage in this form of conflict that they have largely ignored. The west has a powerful narrative, that of personal prosperity. People come to the west from the rest of the world for that prosperity and a lesser degree for the civil and social liberties. The strongest force for personal prosperity in the world is education. The Taliban know this, the Jihadis know this, people in the west have said this, but people have not realized how true this is. People who are being educated have access to knew worlds and new opportunities. This means that they have options other then those presented by the jihadis.
In Afghanistan, people turn to the Taliban for economic and security reasons. They need the money the Taliban pays stay alive. We can match that money easily, pay the peasants to learn to read (and make them read our propaganda while they learn). This will cripple the supply of fighters for the Taliban and strengthen our narrative in the region.
Jax
