Soldiers question the price of high-risk doctrine
By Matthew Green in Marjah
Published: June 23 2010 19:18 | Last updated: June 23 2010 19:18
A marine knelt before an up-turned rifle, muttered a prayer and clutched the dog tags dangling from the grip. Another followed, then another, until dozens of young men,
some shedding tears,
had shared a final act of reverence for their fallen comrade.
The ceremony took place under camouflage netting at an outpost north of Marjah, where Gavin Brummund, a lance-corporal, had been stationed until he was killed at the age of 22 by shrapnel from a home-made bomb targeting his foot patrol.
The gathering on Monday was a moment of release for his Lima Company and a reminder of the growing death toll for Nato in Afghanistan, where some 1,858 coalition soldiers have been killed during the nine-year war, including more than 1,132 Americans and 302 British, according to icasualties.org. Another marine from Lima Company was shot dead in a fight with insurgents on the day of the memorial.
Stanley McChrystal, the former US and Nato general in Afghanistan, has staked his strategy on the assumption that the west’s best chance of containing the Taliban is by winning over the locals, even if that sometimes means greater risks for his troops.
Anger in the White House sparked by comments by his aides mocking administration officials, reported by Rolling Stone magazine, will stir fresh debate over whether the results of Gen McChrystal’s doctrine justify the cost.
Shawn Mcrae, a 24-year-old lance-corporal from a platoon that lost a man to enemy fire in Marjah on May 6, summed up the questions many people are posing:
“Get me to General McChrystal and I’d ask him, ‘How do you measure progress?’ and ‘How much worse is it going to get before it gets better?’ ” he said. “How many more lives are they willing to sacrifice?”
Marjah has come to be regarded as a
litmus test of
Gen McChrystal’s approach since marines seized the town in a highly publicised assault in February. A perception of slower-than-expected progress here has thrown the weakest link in his strategy – its reliance on rapid reform of the Afghan state – into starker relief. The “government in a box” he promised before the offensive has been slow to arrive.
Last month, Gen McChrystal referred to Marjah as a “bleeding ulcer”. US commanders say Marjah is on course to experience the kinds of noticeable improvements in security they say are being felt in other districts in Helmand, such as Garmsir and Nawa, where marines have been in place for almost a year.
Philip Hatton, a UK official based in Marjah, said that a rise in the number of elders attending a meeting at the district centre to more than 350 in early June from about 100 in late April was an indicator of growing confidence. But marines who risk their lives mounting patrols designed to reassure locals find that change is often slow to materialise.
Civilian officials seeking to build Marjah’s district government almost from scratch cite a chronic shortage of high-calibre Afghan administrators who are willing to risk Taliban reprisals to help.
Milling around a pair of armoured vehicles, a small group of marines voiced their frustrations. “More than 75 per cent of Marjah, they don’t want us here, some of the people say they prefer the Taliban way,” said Corporal Luis Lorenzo, 22. “They’re still fighting – one second you don’t focus, one second you’re not doing your job, you can be out of this world altogether.”
Gen McChrystal succeeded in reducing civilian casualties with a range of measures, notably limiting the use of air strikes. But his strategy inevitably exposes his own troops in a conflict where insurgents and farmers are often interchangeable.
Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Christmas, commanding officer of the 3/6 battalion of the US Marines, responsible for northern Marjah, aims to put McChrystal’s words into practise. His unit uses PowerPoint slides to help them recognise notable elders and he urges his men to meet the locals.
At the memorial, Jacob Gray, a 23-year-old sergeant, could have been speaking for Gen McChrystal when he said: “
You can’t just come into a Taliban area and people feel that the shackles are off them,” he said. “
It takes time.”
FT.com / Asia-Pacific / Afghanistan - Soldiers question the price of high-risk doctrine
