The Human Terrain System: Operationally Relevant Social Science Research in Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

To avoid the footpaths which may have been mined with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Ryan Evans, a U.S. federal civilian, was walking across a wheat field in Babaji, Helmand Province, in the spring of 2011. Evans was attached to the Royal Highland Fusiliers (2 Scots), C Company, a heavy infantry patrol tasked with providing security in the vicinity. Begun 2 years earlier, the Helmand Food Zone Program was a form of development intervention which offered subsidies, seed, and fertilizers to farmers who replaced lucrative opium cultivation from poppies with growing and harvesting wheat and vegetable crops. Babaji had been in the control of insurgents until a few months earlier and had not received any assistance from the program during the previous year; consequently, there were tensions between the community and British forces.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1000531

Entities

People

  • Christopher Sims

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter IED
  • Cyber
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Birds
  • Civil War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Data Analysis
  • Employment
  • Geography
  • International Relations
  • Management Personnel
  • Military History
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Policy
  • Students
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Industrial Economics
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.