Recently, while on vacation in New Zealand, I met a Spanish Army Captain who was on R&R leave from his post in Afghanistan. Spain supplies troops as part of NATO operations there. He told me that the Spanish Army uses a much less aggressive approach to peacekeeping than U.S. troops use. Instead of hunting down and killing Taliban and Al Quaeda members, their goal is to turn the population away from those organizations. To do that, they build schools, roads, water systems, and other infrastructure. They meet with locals and ask them what they need. They respect local customs. They have personnel who speak the local languages.
One result is that Spain’s troops enjoy a much more friendly relationship with Afghans. As of November 2006 (when I spoke with the Captain), Spain’s forces in Afghanistan had not suffered a single death, in sharp contrast to U.S. troops. (I don’t know if that is still true.)
The following excerpted article provides another example of the contrast between the U.S. approach to peacekeeping in Afghanistan and that of other NATO nations. This story reports that British troops in one area of Afghanistan were so exasperated with the numbers of civilians being killed by U.S. military operations that the British commander asked the Americans to leave the area.
New York Times, 9 August 2007
U.S. Special Forces blamed, reportedly were asked to leave
Carlotta Gall, New York Times
Sangin, Afghanistan — A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said recently that he had asked U.S. Special Forces to leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.
Other British officers here in Helmand province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized U.S. Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concern that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.
…
A precise tally of civilian casualties is difficult to pin down, but one reliable count puts the number killed in Helmand this year close to 300 civilians, the majority of them caused by foreign and Afghan forces rather than the Taliban.
…
After 18 months of heavy fighting, the British commanders say they are finally making headway in securing key areas such as the town of Sangin, and are now in the difficult position of trying to win back support among local people whose lives have been devastated by aerial bombing.
U.S. Special Forces have been active in Helmand since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in late 2001, and for several years they maintained a small base outside the town of Gereshk. …
British forces arrived last spring and now have command of the province with some 6,000 men deployed, with small units of Estonian and Danish troops. U.S. Special Forces have continued to assist in fighting insurgents, operating as advisers to Afghan national security forces.
It is these small teams that are coming under criticism, since their tactic is to work in small units that rely on air strikes for cover due to their inability to defend themselves if they encounter large groups of insurgents. Such Special Forces teams have often called in air strikes in Helmand and other places where civilians subsequently have been found to have suffered casualties.
In two cases, air strikes killed 31 nomads west of Kandahar in November and 57 villagers, half of them women and children, in western Afghanistan in April. In both cases, U.S. Special Forces were responsible for calling in the air strikes.
British officers on the ground in Helmand, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Americans had caused the major share of the civilian casualties in their area. They expressed concern that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was proving counterproductive and turning the people against the foreign presence.
The chief British press officer in Helmand, Col. Charles Mayo, defended the U.S. Special Forces, saying they were essential to NATO’s efforts to clear out heavily entrenched Taliban insurgents.
A U.S. military spokesman said Special Forces will continue to operate in Helmand for the foreseeable future. He denied that Special Forces tactics have increased civilian deaths and blamed the Taliban for fighting from civilian compounds.
