The Importance of Vertical Engagement in Village Stability Operations

Abstract

A variety of recent media reporting has highlighted the success and challenges of ongoing local engagement initiatives in Afghanistan. Under the banner of Village Stability Operations (VSO), these initiatives are efforts by U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) and other Special Operations Forces (SOF) to improve local governance, security, and infrastructure throughout the country. The current National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan suggests that VSO and the associated development of Afghan Local Police (ALP) are proving more effective than many other concurrent Coalition military efforts. Conversely, other reports also reveal that many Afghans harbor serious concerns about some of these ventures, and in particular suggest that the push by senior military and civilian leadership to accelerate many ALP programs may in fact create a local backlash. This article will address why focusing myopically on the village level in some areas of Afghanistan is a recipe for stagnation and may be counterproductive to overall efforts at developing enduring local security across a broad base. In a hierarchical environment, an exclusive effort at the village level attempts to create change through engagement of those with no real power or ability to make decisions. Such efforts neglect to account for the vertical allegiance networks that dominate sections of Afghanistan's south and an agrarian society where large-scale land ownership is a frequent determinant of authority. Secondly, in some environments a focus on one village or community becomes inevitably exclusionary towards neighboring communities, and may instead alienate potential supporters. Such cases may require a more top-down approach involving vertical engagement that parallels the Afghan District and Provincial hierarchies above the village level.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA552583

Entities

People

  • Andrew Feitt

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Communities
  • Environment
  • Governments
  • Green Berets
  • Insurgency
  • Joint Military Activities
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Societies
  • Special Forces
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Stability Operations
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States

Readers

  • Economics
  • Library and Information Science/ Studies, Southeast Asia Studies, Bibliography of Vietnam and Lao Studies.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.