Success requires a comprehensive approach to counterinsurgency

Success within the ‘war on terror’ is dependent upon the ability of the international community to neutralise the array of threats posed to the west by advocates of Islamic extremism and the growing network of disenfranchised individual who are willing to pursue its political and symbolic objectives by utilising systematic acts of violence within western lands. As well as demanding a concerted effort to strengthen national security and resilience mechanisms, sustainable success requires that a central focus is similarly placed upon defeating and dismantling extremist groups like Al-Qaeda and continuing to deny their operatives safe havens within unstable regions such in Afghanistan and the federally administered tribal areas of Pakistan. Due to the pervasive nature of insurgent activity within the region, the stabilization of Afghanistan increasingly demands a concerted counterinsurgency (COIN) effort to secure key population centres and prevent extremist groups from gaining momentum in their attempts to expand their spheres of influence. For COIN to be successful within the current Afghanistan campaign, international efforts must employ a fully comprehensive strategy that encapsulates a coordinated and unified effort amongst all the actors involved. This must span an encompassing spectrum of political, military and economic capabilities. A comprehensive approach has therefore not yet been fully adopted as there is a disproportionate emphasis upon the military aspect of the campaign and short fallings in, and militarisation of both civil capacity building and economic development efforts, as well as a lacking unity of effort and overall unity of command amongst the multiple dimensions of international contributions which intersect every level of the stabilisation effort in the region. For the comprehensive approach to be fully realised, greater balance between the pillars must be achieved if international efforts are to be successful in neutralising the insurgency, dismantling Al-Qaeda, preventing the return of Afghanistan to Taliban control, and ensuring that Afghanistan does not again become a sanctuary for radical Islamists and a training ground for further terrorist attacks against the west. The emphasis must therefore be on the political effort as the continued asymmetric focus upon the military dimension will create further fragility, instability and insecurity. Furthermore, a politically unified front must be maintained where the military effort is but one of multiple efforts under an overall coordinated and unified command. Otherwise, shortcomings in the adoption of a comprehensive approach will continue to have significant repercussions which will further hinder regional stabilization. This will further impact upon the ability of the international community to address key grievances within Afghanistan and ensure that legitimate governance is maintained, as well as its ability to successfully train Afghan security forces and enable Afghanistan to provide security to its citizens and overcome the excessive levels of corruption that are deep rooted within every level of Afghanistan’s national infrastructure. This kind of approach must draw upon the lessons learnt from previous COIN campaigns both inside and outside of Afghanistan and should involve greater harmonisation between civil capacity building and economic development efforts as well as among different national military contributions, where the military effort should be refocused into a lighter, smaller force concentrated on the more narrowly defined task of counter terrorism. This should compliment a bottom-up approach to responsible governance where stability is first established at a provincial level rather than nurturing attempts to facilitate stability from a top-down state level. Such efforts should be firmly rooted within the context of a wider regional emphasis upon stabilisation, particularly in relation to Pakistan, and should focus upon fostering an environment where the Afghans are in the lead and it becomes clear to the world that the international community is willing and prepared to commit to a long term involvement in resourcing and securing the stabilisation of the region. Momentum must therefore be maintained in preventing the insurgency from gaining increased support from the populace and in making its members realise that they must negotiate with the current Afghan leadership, with whom responsibility for the secure and peaceful future of Afghanistan must ultimately rest.