Nathan Hodge
Security

Keeping Road Rage to a Minimum in Kabul

So now it’s official: The United States is sending more troops to Afghanistan. That means more soldiers out among the population and on the roads. And that creates potential for more "escalation of force" incidents like this and this. The military works hard to bring more realism to checkpoint operations and convoy training, and the […]

Kabul_streets_001

So now it's official: The United States is sending more troops to Afghanistan. That means more soldiers out among the population and on the roads.

And that creates potential for more "escalation of force" incidents like this and this. The military works hard to bring more realism to checkpoint operations and convoy training, and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force runs a public information campaign to warn Afghan citizens about getting too close to military convoys. But split-second decisions can mean civilian casualties, and that can have as damaging an effect on civilian support as any errant bomb.

Security consultant Tim Lynch recently posted a great rant about the way the Army runs convoy operations in downtown Kabul. "For the life of me," he writes, "I cannot figure out why it is that they continue to operate in Kabul as if they were on [Baghdad's notorious 'road of death'] Route Irish back in 2005."

Lynch describes the Army SUVs jamming the Jalalabad and airport roads. In contrast to Afghan private security operators, who tend to go low-profile, the military convoys scream along, sirens on and weapons at the ready.

That is the newest technique of the American Army – loud sirens to help alert traffic ahead to move out of the way. I hear those sirens all day long because both international and American military traffic has increased at least 10 fold in the past year. Convoy after convoy after convoy line the Jalalabad and airport roads all of them pointing guns at every vehicle or person who comes to close, all of them forcing traffic off the road in front of them, all of them looking every bit as stupid here as they would driving through Washington DC in a similar manner. Except now they have an abundance of SUV’s to add in the mix.

Lynch's most withering description is reserved for an eight-vehicle convoy escorting a large Ford Expedition with the flag placard of a U.S. two-star general in the windshield. "Somewhere near the back end [of the general officer corps] is the idiot riding around Kabul today with a flag placard on his SUV to remind one and all that he is an important man," he writes.

He has an important point here. This is not 2004, when you could walk around Kabul with a reasonable degree of security. But Kabul still has an international community that manages to go about its business without keeping Afghans at arms' length.

"We are supposed to bringing security and infrastructure to the people of Afghanistan," Lynch writes. "Yet when our military interacts with the people they do so at the point of a gun with full body armor, helmet, ballistic glasses, nomex special purpose fighting gloves (I have a pair myself because they do look cool,) ear plugs, etc… And do you know what the people of Afghanistan think? They think our military men and woman are cowards."

Ouch. Lynch's target here is not those who serve in Afghanistan, but micro-managing senior NCOs and officers who keep the rank and file restricted to large forward operating bases, insulated from the population. His blog is worth a read; and while you're at it, check out The Combat Operator, an e-zine that offers an interesting take on the private security world.

[PHOTO: Nathan Hodge]

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