Build on successful efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan
JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- Air Force Lt. Col. Gordon Phillips has logged 5,000 hours in AWACS surveillance planes, one of the high-tech weapons systems that made America a dominant power against conventional adversaries. But these days, Phillips is very much down on the ground, heading a provincial reconstruction team (PRT) that works with villagers to build dams, roads and schools.
Phillips' unlikely role illustrates the dilemma facing the U.S. military: The conventional wars they're good at fighting aren't the ones they're actually encountering in Iraq, Afghanistan and other unstable areas. The ideal modern warrior has to be something between a Peace Corps volunteer and a Special Forces commando.
The U.S. seems to be doing most things right here in Nangarhar province on Afghanistan's eastern border, and gaining some leverage in its fight against terrorism. This used to be Taliban country. Pakistan is just east, across the Khyber Pass. To the south are the rugged, snow-capped peaks of the Tora Bora mountains, into which Osama bin Laden fled in late 2001. There are occasional roadside bombings and suicide attacks in the province, but people have to stop and think a moment to remember the last one.
Success here results from an interesting mix of political and military factors. There's a strong local leader in the provincial governor, Gul Agha Sherzai. He's a warlord. But he rules the province with a firm hand, and with a personal fortune that U.S. officials estimate at about $300 million, he has the money to make political deals work.
The American contribution to stability in Jalalabad is twofold. First, there's the PRT effort. With its focus on economic development, it is reaching out to the very people whose support the Taliban insurgents need to survive. I talked with a local cleric named Mullawi Abdul-Aziz. He was once friendly with the Taliban, but he now serves as deputy chief of the provincial council and meets twice a week with Shawn Waddoups, a State Department officer on the PRT. The mullah says he ignores Afghans who criticize him for being too friendly with the Americans.
A second component of U.S. success here is the low-visibility but high-impact mix of combat and intelligence operations. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Milhorn leads a team that seeks, as he puts it, to "tighten down the gate" at the Pakistani border. He's aided by some very high-tech biometric equipment.
When you visit places like Jalalabad and see things working the way they're supposed to, there's always a disconnect with what you've been reading and hearing about the larger war.
The reality is that the larger Afghanistan war isn't going as well as it seems to be in this province. Roadside bombs and suicide attacks were up in Afghanistan last year. The Taliban is regaining strength in some parts of the country. The Afghan national government is weak and disorganized. No other nation matches the U.S. in combat firepower or people-friendly PRTs.
Counterinsurgency wars are, in the end, about creating a state of mind. Security is a habit, born of weeks and months of ordinary life. Insecurity too is a habit, born of fear that a suicide bomber may attack, no matter how infrequently.
A reality check for me was to talk in Kabul with Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the country's bright young minister of education. He said that Taliban terrorist attacks killed 147 students and teachers over the past 10 months. This campaign of intimidation closed 590 schools last year, up from 350 the year before. Where students are too scared to go to school, stability and security are still distant goals. You can see in Jalalabad what success would look like; the challenge is to make that picture real across Afghanistan.
© 2008, Washington Post Writers Group