Major Jim Gant
2009. Produced and published by Nine Sisters Imports, Inc., Los Angeles, California USA. Available at http://blog.stevenpressfield.com.
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.
Tribes understand power. How many guns do we have? How many
warriors can I put in the field? Can I protect my tribe? Can I keep you from
killing me?
Tribes understand projection. Tribes have no “strategic
goals” in the Western sense. Their diplomatic, informational, military, and
economic (DIME) priorities are almost without exception in reference to other
tribes. Can I project my power across the valley? Does the tribe across the
river know not to come over here and meddle in my affairs? Do the Taliban know
that they are not welcome here? Can I influence decisions, either by force or
otherwise, outside of my tribe?
Tribes offer their members security, safety, structure and
significance. What other institutions do that right now in Afghanistan?
“Tribes, can foster a sense of social solidarity. [Belonging
to a tribe] fills people with pride and self-respect. It motivates families to
protect, welcome and care for each other and to abide by strict rituals that
affirm their connections as tribal members to their ancestors, land and deity.
This kinship creates trust and loyalty in which one knows and must uphold one’s
rights, duties and obligations. What maintains order in a tribe is mutual
respect, dignity, pride and honor.” says RAND Senior Fellow David Ronfeldt in
his paper, Tribes First and Forever.
Tribes by nature are conservative. They hate change and they
don’t change. “The more tribal the society, the more resistant it will be to
change.” (Ronfeldt, Tribes First and Forever, p. 73). The tribal system has
been the means of governance in Central Asia for centuries. It has resisted and
defeated invaders since Cyrus the Great. The more an alien force tries to
change the way tribes live, the more the tribes resist.
What about democracy? A tribe is a “natural democracy.” In
Afghan shuras and jirgas (tribal councils), every man’s voice has a chance to
be heard. The fact that women and minority groups have no say in the process
does not make it less effective nor less of a democracy to them. Asking them to
change the way they have always conducted their business through their jirgas
and shuras just does not make sense. We need to integrate ourselves into the
process as trusted “advisors” to the tribal leadership. They need to know that
we have their best interests in mind.
Bottom line: We must support the tribal system because it is
the single, unchanging political, social and cultural reality in Afghan society
and the one system that all Afghans understand, even if we don’t.
The tribe offered us outstanding intelligence that allowed
us to target both insurgents and terrorists in the area. Their loyalty was with
us. Not Afghan forces or US forces, but us. The primary point here is that it
is possible to have “influence without authority” in this area through the
tribal leadership and its great leader.
