Feral Jundi

   Let me summarize this thing for you, because this is the message I got.  We sent all of these government folks over to Afghanistan, but we don’t have enough military escorts to take them around the country to implement their projects.  In other words, there is a high demand for security. Where is the surge of security contractors needed to get this stuff done?

   They also talk about an increase in attacks and casualties, but that is largely contributed to the idea that there are more targets for the Taliban to go after and we are now in the fighting season (spring, summer).

   Now for my suggestion. If you want security and there are not enough military folks to do the job, then contract it out. Obviously security forces are at a premium there, and soldiers are kind of busy taking the fight to the enemy.  If you want to get more security in that country in order to cover down on all of these projects, and do it quickly, then contract it out.  I know security contractors are not the most favored choice of government these days, but honestly, they don’t have much choice in the matter if they want to do what they gotta do in Afghanistan.  It’s either that, or just send all of these government employees back home because they are waste of space.

   I would also recommend using expats, as opposed to using corrupt local security companies.  Or combine expat companies with local security companies for security operations.  Where there is a will, there is a way. Hell, you could contract out the security of an entire town if you wanted, and contractors could actually be a huge contributor to the ‘hold’ and ‘build’ portion of the COIN strategy.  Leave the ‘clear’ portion of the strategy to the military, and assign what you can to the ‘hold’ forces.

   One last thing, and I hate to beat a dead horse.  There are plenty of reports, lessons learned, SOPs, experienced contractors, expert input, blah blah blah out there to get this done properly.(man is it tiring to continue to read about how poor government is at learning anything. pfffft)  Either way, there should be no excuses for mismanagement of this ‘surge of security contractors’ into Afghanistan that I am talking about. Or we can continue to read about these people who are sitting around and doing nothing because of a lack of security for their operation. –Matt

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GAO Report On Afghanistan Security Environment

May 5, 2010

(one portion of the report below, follow link to read the rest)

Agencies Cite Security Challenges to Stabilization Efforts in Afghanistan 

   State’s January 2010 Afghanistan and Pakistan Regional Stabilization Strategy cites reconstruction and development as key elements of the overall effort to stabilize Afghanistan and reduce the strength of the insurgency. However, the strategy acknowledges that the success of such civilian programs in Afghanistan is contingent on improved security. In November 2009, we reported that while U.S. and international development projects in Afghanistan had made some progress, deteriorating security complicated such efforts to stabilize and rebuild the country.

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