Basics of COIN Part 3: Anarchy and Insurgency

(AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Countering an insurgency is not building a nation

A nation must first exist in order for an insurgency to exist as well. Merriam-Webster defines "anarchy" as:

1a : absence of government
b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority
c : a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government

Does this best describe your COIN situation? If so, you are not countering an insurrection, you are countering the creation of government. In other words, YOU are the insurgency. Keep in mind that insurgents are not limited to violence alone as they are trying to establish an alternative form of governance.

Now if you have the mission of fighting against the "bad" insurgents while assisting locals to become part of the national government you support, then welcome to neo-colonialism (aka nation-building).

Is neo-colonialism too strong a word?

Possibly. But ask yourself if the U.S. and NATO would support a democratically elected Taliban government. The fact is that we want a "democratically" elected government that will act in the best interests of NATO and the United States.

You can support that. So what is wrong with nation-building?

The U.S. is terrible at it; instead it unintentionally creates breeding grounds for instability and radicalism. There are certain levels of literacy, education, economics, essential services, and most importantly security that are required for both stability and democracy. Keep those five metrics in mind when reading this list of the most corrupt governments in the world courtesy of Transparency International:

1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Myanmar
4. Sudan
5. Iraq
6. Chad
7. Uzbekistan
8. Turkmenistan
9. Iran
10. Haiti

Note that most of the listed countries were and still are failed U.S. experiments in nation-building. Democratic elections have brought international legitimacy to HAMAS and Hezbollah among other former insurgent groups. Keep in mind that democracy is a popularity contest and insurgents require popular support.

Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom...No, we fight because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation.

-Osama bin Laden, October 2004

An insurgent must appear as a modern day Robin Hood in order to maintain popular support. Building a nation does not counter an insurgency, it creates an easy target to popularly oppose, to justifiably attack, and to eventually replace; all while damaging the international reputation of those responsible for its creation.