If they're afraid to be seen with you, your COIN effort can only go so far
Monday, June 28, 2010 at 12:05AM 
USA Today front-pager and Banyan column in Economist.
From the first:
Dur Mohammad doesn't walk a straight path to the school where he teaches. He takes a meandering route and then lingers in fields along the way to make it look as if he's a farmer tending his crops.
When U.S. Marines stop by the school, Mohammad begs them to be on their way.
"We cannot stand for a couple of minutes with you," he says. "If someone sees us, we'll be in trouble."
From Banyan:
The problem of knowing what Afghans think is an obstacle more generally. When World Bank workers attempt to take surveys, they have to memorise the questions and answers, since villagers speaking to strange folk with clipboards are at risk from insurgents.
These anecdotes suggest a trust-building process unlikely to be much consummated by the summer of 2011. Obama will have to make a tough call: stick with something that's working--but slowly, or cash in the Afghan people.
Reader Comments (1)
I am a student of the Anglo Irish War, 1919-1921, and the following civil war. During that period in Ireland, the Irish Republican Army had sympathizers and spies in every village and town. The pub owner, the grocery store clerk, the newsboy, the postman, sometimes even the local priest. Anyone seen talking to a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary or to British soldiers was in trouble. Anyone seen coming out of a police barracks or a military installation was in serious trouble. God help that person if an arrest or raid followed their contact with the authorities. The British army controlled the countryside when it moved in platoon or company sized units. That was during the day time. At night, the IRA moved about freely. Men were taken from their homes, interrogated, and sometimes shot based on suspicious contact with authorities. Bodies were left at the intersection of country roads. A note pinned to the chest would read "Spies and Informers Beware."