The Accidental Guerilla (1 Viewer)

[PolarBear]

Does anyone know this book? There is a good interview with Kilcullen online

http://www.pluggd.tv/audio/channels/wamu__the_diane_rehm_show/episodes/4yjdy

I find his analogy with fighting disease quite interesting:


From a review:

"Discussing the tribal areas of Pakistan, Kilcullen shows how Al Qaeda moved in by taking over communities — establishing bonds by marrying local women, operating businesses, eventually recruiting the villagers as fighters. To see Kilcullen’s theory at work, you need only to look at the Swat region of northern Pakistan.
How does the initiation process of the accidental guerrilla happen? Kilcullen likens it to a disease. Al Qaeda establishes its presence in a remote area of conflict, then penetrates the population the same way influenza infects a weakened immune system. Contagion occurs when the safe haven is used to spread violence. When outside forces intervene, disrupting the safe haven, the local population aligns with Al Qaeda. The terrorists’ effort is meant to be long lasting, and it’s highly effective."


From the book:

"If we can brush the enemy out of the way, marginalize them politically, root out insurgency infrastructure and make local communities self-defending, we can inoculate the Afghan population against the Taliban and prevent their return. The contrary, enemy-centric approach simply wastes lives, time, and firepower in chasing an adversary who has no fixed installations to hold and can therefore melt away to fight another day."

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Randy,

Looks like an interesting book I may have to wander over to the public library and see if they have it.

Dave

 

[PolarBear]

Hi Randy,

Looks like an interesting book I may have to wander over to the public library and see if they have it.

Dave

Kipling's poem captures what present day forces are still up against:

Arithmetic on the Frontier
by Rudyard Kipling

Arithmetic on the Frontier was first published in Departmental Ditties and Other Verses in 1886. The poem was written
about the Second Anglo-Afghan war, describing the conflict between highly-educated British soldiers and poor tribesmen.



A great and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe—
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
Comprised in "villanous saltpetre [gunpowder]!"
And after—ask the Yusufzaies [NWF tribe]
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station—
A canter down some dark defile—
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail— [Afghan musket]
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

No proposition Euclid wrote,
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's [curved sword](downward blow
Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—
The odds are on the cheaper man.

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley [NWF]scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem,
The troop-ships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
To slay Afridis [Pashtun tribe] where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap—alas! as we are dear.