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British Military Turn to "Hearts and Minds" Strategy vs. Taliban...
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| British Military Turn to "Hearts and Minds" Strategy vs. Taliban...
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| Fdubya247 |
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"Britain switches tactics to undermine the Taliban"
Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday February 27, 2007
The Guardian
Britain has launched a "reconciliation" drive to undermine support for the Taliban after Whitehall strategists concluded that a decisive military victory in Afghanistan cannot be won, the Guardian has learned.
In a significant shift in tactics, senior British officials have stopped talking about winning a war. "We do not use the word 'win'," one said. "We can't kill our way out of this problem."
The admission came as Des Browne, the defence secretary, announced a larger than expected 1,400 increase in British troops deployed in southern Afghanistan, with extra armour, artillery, and aircraft. It brings the total number there to 7,700, more than there are in Iraq.
Officials say the new tactics are to identify "Talibs who are sick of fighting" and persuade them to rejoin their tribes and benefit from the human rights laws and state structures being set up in the country. Captured fighters may also be offered alternatives to incarceration, while more deals will be sought with tribal elders.
They hope increasingly to damage the Taliban without relying on a shooting war, a tactic which has often proved counter-productive in the past, notably when Nato air strikes kill civilians. "We are convinced most people do not support the Taliban and want to take a route through it," said one source. British officials distinguish the Taliban from al-Qaida, describing it as a "more fluid" organisation.
Contrasting the Taliban with al-Qaida, a one said: "Al-Qaida's operations are more sophisticated than the Taliban and al-Qaida is very choosy about who they work with."
An official familiar with British policy on Afghanistan described the difference this way: "The Taliban is not a homogenous group. It is a mixture of characters - criminals, drug dealers, people out of work. There is a wide variety of different people. The Taliban pays them to carry out these attacks so there are ways to tackle the problem, to split off the disillusioned."
He pointed to Hakim Munib, the governor of Oruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, as an example of a former Taliban figure who had left the movement.
British officials are worried about the consequences of US proposals to eradicate Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest, which include spraying the crops from the air, a policy it adopted in Colombia.
The fear is that tough anti-narcotic measures now would alienate poor farmers who have no alternative livelihood and drive more Afghans into the hands of the Taliban. Such a policy would further endanger British troops, military commanders say. "The Americans are more impatient than we are," said one official, adding that the immediate priority should be to target and disrupt "convoys and laboratories and medium value drugs traffickers".
Mr Browne told the Commons yesterday that Britain would deploy four more helicopters and four more Harrier jets to the country, more Warrior armoured vehicles, and multiple-launch rocket systems.
Military officials predict an increase in Taliban attacks this spring in southern Afghanistan, and what they called "western buildings" in the capital, Kabul.
They added that the Taliban were also recruiting more suicide bombers.
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| Stonewall |
| Quote: In a significant shift in tactics, senior British officials have stopped talking about winning a war. "We do not use the word 'win'," one said. "We can't kill our way out of this problem." |
In Iraq it is proven that you can kill your way out of a problem. And, I think in Afghanistan it will be proven again. |
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| Hater |
Quote: Originally posted by Stonewall
In Iraq it is proven that you can kill your way out of a problem. And, I think in Afghanistan it will be proven again. |
How is it that proven again? |
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| Stonewall |
Quote: Originally posted by Hater
How is it that proven again? |
The British are leaving Iraq, we are leaving Iraq. |
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| muddpuppy |
| "Kill your way out of the problem"? Sure Stonewall. Nice advice from a guy who takes his nickname from Tom Fool Jackson (what his fellow cadets called him), later killed by his own men. Accidentally, of course. |
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| Stonewall |
Quote: Originally posted by muddpuppy
"Kill your way out of the problem"? Sure Stonewall. Nice advice from a guy who takes his nickname from Tom Fool Jackson (what his fellow cadets called him), later killed by his own men. Accidentally, of course. |
It is very true that the people in Iraq who want us out are proving that killing works. And, it will work in Afghanistan too. It's not advice it is reality. My advice would be to pull out. |
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| Hater |
Quote: Originally posted by Stonewall
It is very true that the people in Iraq who want us out are proving that killing works. And, it will work in Afghanistan too. It's not advice it is reality. My advice would be to pull out. |
What are you talking about? The British aren't leaving b/c they are getting killed, they're leaving b/c they're presence is unnecessary...having an occupying force in Iraq is clearly not the way to win....
they realize it's time for Iraq to step up...it has nothing to do with killing... |
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