One Tribe at a Time (3) - How tribes work

Major Jim Gant
2009. Produced and published by Nine Sisters Imports, Inc., Los Angeles, California USA. Available at http://blog.stevenpressfield.com.

“You damn well better know yourself, because they know you.” The Afghan people have a knack for looking straight through deception and incompetence.

Tribes understand protection. Tribes are organized and run to ensure the security of the tribe. Not only physical security, but revenue and land protection. But most important of all is preservation of the tribal name and reputation. Honor is everything in a tribal society. Tribes will fight and die over honor alone.

One Tribe at a Time (2)

Pashtunwali, its tactical applications, Problems with Current COIN Strategy and its Application in Afghanistan

Major Jim Gant
2009
Produced and published by Nine Sisters Imports, Inc., Los Angeles, California USA
available at http://blog.stevenpressfield.com.

• “You damn well better know yourself, because they know you.” The Afghan people have a knack for looking straight through deception and incompetence.

• Tribes understand protection. Tribes are organized and run to ensure the security of the tribe. Not only physical security, but revenue and land protection. But most important of all is preservation of the tribal name and reputation. Honor is everything in a tribal society. Tribes will fight and die over honor alone.

One Tribe at a Time - Strategy for Afghanistan

Major Jim Gant
2009
Produced and published by Nine Sisters Imports, Inc., Los Angeles, California USA
available at http://blog.stevenpressfield.com.

• A strategy of tribal engagement will require a complete paradigm shift at the highest levels of our military organization.

• The central cultural fact about Afghanistan is that it is constituted of tribes. Not individuals, not Western-style citizens—but tribes and tribesmen. It is my deep belief that the answer to the problems that face the Afghan people, as well as other future threats to US security in the region, will be found in understanding and then helping the tribal system of Afghanistan to flourish.

Negotiating Hostage Crises with the New Terrorists

The game is changing. The “new terrorists” are intelligent, well prepared, tactically savvy, heavily armed, willing to die, and they have read the manuals. And, if you think like a cop, they will know your next move.

When confronted with hostage barricade scenarios at the hands of the “new terrorists,” many of the fundamental principles of crisis negotiation still apply, but many of the old rules—and the obsolete assumptions on which they are based—no longer hold.

Children of Abraham, it is to you that this message of salvation has been sent

Did Jesus rise from the dead? Ideas, Facts, Deductions

“Who is it you are looking for?” - a reflection on John 20:10-16

~ John 20:10-16

Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”  She said, “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.”  At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.   He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”  Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you put him, and I will get him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Messages from the Book