One Tribe at a Time: The Paper that Changed the War in Afghanistan Read Free

that is simply struggling to feed its families, clans and tribes. The COIN (counterinsurgency) forces should not be made responsible for the opium issue.That would be counterproductive for the troops on the ground.
    A strategy of tribal engagement will require a complete paradigm shift at the highest levels of our military organization.
    So…what is the answer? My hope is that you will find it as you read through this paper.

    You get a much different perspective on what this war means when you’re in a tribal village. You look down at the children and see the hope and trust and anticipation in their eyes. It puts a little more fire in your belly to do something that really matters.

FOREWORD
    “Even if you take a Pashtun person to paradise by force, he will not go. He will go with you only by friendly means.”
    – Inam-ur-Rahman, head of the Swat Valley Peace Committee in Pakistan
    Afghanistan. I feel like I was born there. The greatest days of my entire life were spent in the Pesch Valley and Musa Qalay and with the great “Sitting Bull” (a tribal leader in the Konar Valley) who you will meet later in these pages.
    I love the people and the rich history of Afghanistan. They will give you their last bite of food in the morning and then tryand kill you in the evening. A people who, despite their great poverty, are as happy as any American I have ever met. A people who will fight and die for the sake of honor. A great friend and a worthy enemy.
    I have been asked by several people inside and outside of the military, “Who is your audience for this paper? What are you trying to accomplish?”
    The answer is that I have been trying to get back to Afghanistan for several years, to Konar Province, to my old stomping grounds. In June of 2008 I received orders to return there on a transition team. I started this paper as an individual “IPb” or Intelligence Preparation of the battlefield. It began as my attempt to “wrap my brain around” the tribal issues that I knew my team and I would have to face.
    I am writing this paper to help myself and possibly others determine how tobest utilize the most powerful aspect of Afghan society—the tribes and the tribal system—not only to help the United States accomplish its strategic goals, but to help the Afghan people achieve peace, stability and good governance.
    Afghan tribes always have and always will resist any type of foreign intervention in their affairs. This includes a central government located in Kabul, which to them is a million miles away from their problems, a million miles away from their security.
    “Democracy” only has a chance to be cultivated at the local level by a small group of men—Tribal Engagement Teams—who are willing to dedicate their lives to the Afghan people and cause.
    At a time when the outcome of the war in Afghanistan hangs in the balance, when high ranking military officers are asking formore troops, I believe the “light footprint” approach put forth in this paper will not only work, but will help to ease the need for larger and larger numbers of US soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan.
    The central cultural fact about Afghanistan is that it is constituted of tribes. Not individuals, not Western-style citizens—but tribes and tribesmen. It is my deep belief—and the thesis of this paper—that the answer to the problems that face the Afghan people, as well as other future threats to US security in the region, will be found in understanding and then helping the tribal system of Afghanistan to flourish.
    I firmly believe that a relatively small number of special officers and noncommissioned officers could maintain influence on large portions of Afghanistan by advising, assisting, training and leading local tribalsecurity forces (Arbakai) and building strong relationships with the tribes they live alongside.
    One Tribe at a Time
reflects what I believe to be the one strategy that can help both the US and the people of Afghanistan