The Perfect COIN Soldier

REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih/Files


Most of the news reports on the pending White House decision on Afghanistan revolve around troop numbers. The latest insight was recently released from Reuters.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Obama was considering options that included sending roughly 15,000, 30,000 or 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan to try to stem Taliban gains.

In other words, the options would be not what GEN McChrystal asked for, not what GEN McChrystal asked for, or what GEN McChrystal asked for.

The problem as I see it is that the Defense Department and all of those involved in the debate are playing the metrics game. Where is the debate over the quality of troop? In other words, what would make the perfect COIN soldier for Afghanistan?

Nobody in their right mind would request 45,000 individuals unfamiliar with the language, culture, history, or terrain. Yet the US debate is focus solely on number of troops without ever mentioning required skill sets. Afghan-American Muslims still retaining tribal ties with their future area of operations (AO) would alleviate a majority of the issues conventional troops are facing implementing a population-centric COIN strategy. Marines and soldiers take it upon themselves to become as familiar with these critical subjects as fast as possible. They do their best, but any shortcomings are not their fault as this exemplifies an institutional failure by senior U.S. leadership.

Insurgents are armed civilians, plain and simple. They live among the population because they are the population. Ask any battalion commander in Afghanistan if they would exchange one platoon for a dual-citizen Afghan-American to serve as a personal adviser. There are legions of patriotic dual citizens in the U.S. that would jump at this opportunity if offered. Many fought or fled against the Soviets during the 1980s and are beyond military age, but they are very capable of serving in an advisory role.

There are excuses as to why this would never happen. Unfortunately, most of them sound something like this: