Focus on prevention in Afghanistan

The bodies in Afghanistan are piling up, and many of them were never in uniform.

Civilian casualties have plagued the nation since the start of foreign occupation, and the aftermath is becoming even more perceptible.

On the one hand, it’s slightly unfair to judge the actions of frightened troops acting out of self-defense in the midst of chaos. However, it still doesn’t bring back all the people who didn’t want to be a part of the war but were sucked into it anyhow.

It’s one thing to have a divided America on the war, but it becomes a different ball game when the civilians the troops are supposedly protecting are getting killed as well. This clearly contradicts the war’s objective and extinguishes Afghan support for U.S., NATO and even Afghan forces.

In a war that has been dragging on with no apparent deadline in sight, the key to a conclusion might lie in building a more solid support system among the Afghanis. The U.S. government has already spent $1 billion in school-building projects in Afghanistan in hopes that education will deter young Afghanis from joining the insurgency. But will the promise of education really outweigh the desire for vengeance in the name of lost loved ones?

In more concrete terms, it’s simply counterproductive to kill insurgents while killing civilians: The loved ones of murdered civilians will only feel alienated by troops and mollify their rage by running to the other side. It’s exactly what the insurgency wants — increased manpower and civilian support is a powerful weapon.

Detainees from Bagram Air Base’s military prison did exactly that upon hearing about the wrongful deaths of their friends and family. Hostility toward foreign troops continues to escalate after an esteemed imam was killed two months ago. His community’s opinion of troops being stationed in Afghanistan has shifted, and it is likely that the outlook of his 150 students has also hardened.

Although General Stanley McChrystal has taken measures to curb the violence against civilians and had some success (aerial attacks against civilians were cut by over a third in 2009), the number of civilian shootings has not diminished.

Giving troops a better understanding of how to better distinguish between a threat and a confused civilian should be integrated into military training. Requiring all troops to have a basic understanding of Pashto, the language of the region, could also be beneficial as troops would rely less on interpreters who delay the exchange of information or might not be present in every situation. It would also reduce the dependency on communicating to civilians through hand gestures, which is clearly unreliable.

In cases where mistakes are still made, the U.S. must convey a greater sense of remorse to their communities. Public apologies, greater coverage in the press, proper burial rites and monetary compensation to the families and friends are a few solutions.

These steps are vital from both a moral and military standpoint. And while they might not do much to combat the current insurgency in Afghanistan, they can prevent more from rising.


E-mail: pkansal@indiana.edu