Hollowing out Afghanistan's local government
Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 12:04AM 
The governor of Kandahar--staying alive
NYT story that reminds us of the Taliban's grim determination to kill however many necessary to thwart any nation-building by NATO:
The Taliban have been stepping up a campaign of assassinations in recent months against officials and anyone else associated with local government in an attempt to undermine counterinsurgency operations in the south.
Government assassinations are nothing new as a Taliban tactic, but now the Taliban are taking aim at officials who are much more low-level, who often do not have the sort of bodyguards or other protection that top leaders do. Some of the victims have only the slimmest connections to the authorities. The most egregious example came Wednesday in Helmand Province, where according to Afghan officials the insurgents executed a 7-year-old boy as an informant.
As the coalition concentrates on trying to build up the Afghan government in the southern province of Kandahar, a big part of that strategy depends on recruiting capable Afghan government officials who can speed delivery of aid and services to undercut support for the Taliban. The insurgents have just as busily been trying to undermine that approach, by killing local officials and intimidating others into leaving their posts.
“They read the papers; they know what we are doing,” said a NATO official here, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with his government’s policy. “It’s very much game on between the coalition and the Taliban.”
The assassinations have been effective in slowing recruitment of government officials, he said. “Am I going to live through the workweek? No one should have to ask that question.”
Just since March, according to reports compiled by The New York Times from the police, military sources, witnesses and local government officials, there have been at least 11 assassinations in Kandahar, mostly of low-level officials. These reports, which are not complete, do not include police officers or other officials killed in more indiscriminate attacks, like suicide bombings.
In John Robb's formulation, the Taliban are proving quite effective at "hollowing out" the local government, keeping Kabul's reach limited to the capital city--a classic failed-state situation. Doesn't mean they will ever effectively rule the country, but they can prevent outsiders from trying to encourage the same with non-Taliban leadership/governance.
And that won't change any time soon, it would seem--unless overwhelming economic presence is achieved by regional elements.
And that's where the discovery of mineral wealth can be a game-accelerator.
Reader Comments (2)
"Doesn't mean they will ever effectively rule the country, but they can prevent outsiders from trying to encourage the same with non-Taliban leadership/governance."
This could be found in a Rudyard Kipling document with minor wording difference. It might also be in a Marco Polo document along with info on Kahn's response.
Killing local chiefs is an old insurgency tactic. The Viet-Cong used this a lot, too. If we are going to do COIN, this is a tactic we need to deal with. I also remember the story told in "Apocalypse Now" of Viet-Cong chopping off all the left arms of children in a village who'd been vaccinated by US doctors. I don't know if that actually happened, but it's the sort of brutal tactic that we have to be prepared to deal with. This is why protecting civilians has to be a priority, and what makes COIN hard.