Australian anthropologist-soldier now drives US policy on war on terror

steven johnson

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Mon Mar-23-09 06:04 AM
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Australian anthropologist-soldier now drives US policy on war on terror

Source: The Times of India

Nobody is calling it the Kilcullen Canon or Aussie Doctrine yet. But the Obama�s administration�s move under its new upcoming Af-Pak policy to offer an olive branch to the ''reconciliable'' Taliban and lavish a financial bonanza on its patron Pakistan is evidently based on the Australian David Kilcullen�s acclaimed work on counter-insurgency and guerrilla warfare.

Kilcullen, who was a reservist Lt.Colonel in the Australian army till as recently as 2005, has been advising the US government and military since then on its strategies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other trouble spots. He has worked as an advisor to the State Department and to Gen. David Petraeus, who executed the Iraq War troop surge in 2007 and thinks highly of him.

Based on Kilcullen�s doctoral work on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism that distinguishes hard-core terrorists from ''accidental guerrillas,'' and tracts he has since developed based on his experience in Iraq, the Obama administration now believes that only military action will not resolve the Afghan situation. It needs to talk to the Taliban. In his work, Kilcullen emphasizes the importance of ''conflict ethnography,'' the need to understand the social and cultural drivers of conflict.

As a result, Washington is now moving towards understanding (and possibly accepting) Taliban and ensuring a limited goal of protecting America and its allies from further terrorist attacks...President Obama on Sunday provided the first hints of the new strategy in a CBS� 60 Minutes interview in which he spoke of an ''exit strategy'' for the U.S even though Washington is inducting more troops into Afghanistan.

Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/Australian-anthropologist-soldier-now-drives-US-policy-on-war-on-terror/articleshow/4304532.cms

David Killkullen is the author of the successful strategy in the Anbar Awakening.

David Killcullen gives an interview in the Washington Post on Sunday in which he says:

Q: What is the real central front in the war on terror?

Pakistan. Hands down. No doubt.

Q: How much longer will the war last?

The intervention ends when the locals can handle it. Right now they can't. I think that within three to five years, we can say that the chance that the Iraqis will be able to hold their own against their internal threats is pretty high. So I'd say we have another three to five years of substantial engagement in Iraq. But one other factor here is external interference. What are the Iranians doing, what are the Saudis doing, what are the Jordanians and the Syrians doing? The Iraq part is not the problem, it's the regional security part that is the problem.

Q:What are the lessons of Iraq that most apply to Afghanistan?

I would say there are three. The first one is you've got to protect the population. Unless you make people feel safe, they won't be willing to engage in unarmed politics. The second lesson is, once you've made people safe, you've got to focus on getting the population on your side and making them self-defending. And then a third lesson is, you've got to make a long-term commitment.

Q: Obama has suggested that it might be possible to reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, along the lines of the Anbar Awakening in Iraq. Would that work?

If the Taliban sees that we're negotiating for a stay of execution or to stave off defeat, that's going to harden their resolve. . . . I'm all for negotiating, but I think the chances of achieving a mass wave of people turning against the Taliban are somewhat lower in Afghanistan than they were in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/19/AR2009031903038.html