Now THIS is Interesting (Good News From Afghanistan)
Lots of potential for this to go horribly wrong. But if true, this is a major development. We’ll always do better supporting groups with shared interests than trying to create government institutions from scratch. The endgame of this sort of thing though is still problematic. Ultimately the militias have to either fade away or be incorporated into national institutions. Otherwise, this is a recipe for a return to warlordism, which would I think be even worse for us that the division of the country between Kabul and some Taliban-dominated Pashtunistan. Though, I could be convinced otherwise. Anyway, probably more significant than the much discussed Nawa situation.
That said, two bits of good news from the Afghan front.
As Afghans Resist Taliban, U.S. Spurs Rise of Militias – NYTimes.com
American and Afghan officials have begun helping a number of anti-Taliban militias that have independently taken up arms against insurgents in several parts of Afghanistan, prompting hopes of a large-scale tribal rebellion against the Taliban.The emergence of the militias, which took some leaders in Kabul by surprise, has so encouraged the American and Afghan officials that they are planning to spur the growth of similar armed groups across the Taliban heartland in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
The American and Afghan officials say they are hoping the plan, called the Community Defense Initiative, will bring together thousands of gunmen to protect their neighborhoods from Taliban insurgents. Already there are hundreds of Afghans who are acting on their own against the Taliban, officials say.
Why is this a surprise? It’s one leg of the the trinity of modern warfare used by the US against insurgencies since WWII:
* Popular front militia
* Massive firepower on civilians
* Sweep and destroy missions
Militia has been the missing leg of the trinity in Afghanistan, and hence a frequent topic of discussion during 2009 among the war’s advocates.
The surprise is if the reporting is accurate and if the militias are genuinely local initiatives.
Why is that a surprise? The militia in most post-colonial wars usually had an element of local initiative (usually ethnic or tribal). That’s what makes them militia — and functional.
Right, I guess my sense is that the surprise is that I don’t think we’d seen much local initiative in Afghanistan since, say, 2004. At least I haven’t seen it in press accounts, an admittedly limited source.