According to a report in the Daily Mail, after two attempts at clearing the village led to casualties on both sides, Lt Col David Flynn, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force 1—320th, gave the order to pulverise the village. We published photographs a few days ago of before and after the bombing that showed the complete destruction of the village. His men were “terrified to go back into the pomegranate orchards to continue clearing (the area); it seemed like certain death”, writes West Point graduate Paula Broadwell on the Foreign Policy blog. Instead of continuing to clear the tiny village, the commander approved a mine-clearing line charge, which hammered a route into the centre of Tarok Kolache using rocket-propelled explosives, the report said. The destruction escalated, however, with “49,200 lbs of ordnance” dropped on the village via air strikes and ground-launched rockets, which saw it swiftly blown off the face of the earth.
For arguments' sake, let's assume that the majority of Petraeus and NATO's version is true: the Taliban had rendered the village an IED ghost town so dangerous that the villagers accepted its destruction for reimbursement. When they reconstruct the village or relocate the people, this will connect them to the central government. U.S. officials call this COIN.
ReplyDeleteThe main flaws are two fold. First, some Afghans were clearly terrified of the ordeal regardless of their "approval." The concern, however, is this village going viral like it has. The Taliban use the Internet and have likely used these stories in their information campaign. So now, rather than one single village, this situation encompasses villages across Afghanistan. This is bad COIN.
Even stranger is Petraeus's way of connecting Afghans to the government by destroying their homes and farms. Petraeus has reportedly lost faith in Karzai and is trying to undermine him locally. So while the village's own fate is something to debate, its effects offer an even grimmer scenario.
Can't argue with that, James. More and more of the local news analyses point up the rift between Karzai and NATO/Petraeus. It's a case of 'when thieves fall out...' as far as I am concerned
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