"Dutch Soldiers Stress Restraint in Afghanistan

By C. J. CHIVERS, NYT
Published: April 6, 2007

QALA-E-SURKH, Afghanistan — The Dutch infantrymen stood on a ridge near the Baluchi Valley, an area in south-central Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban and tribes opposed to the central government

Whenever they push farther, the soldiers said, they swiftly come under fire from rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. “The whole valley is pretty much hostile,” said one, a machine gunner.

But rather than advancing for reconnaissance or to attack, the Dutch soldiers pulled back to a safer village. “We’re not here to fight the Taliban,” said the Dutch commander, Col. Hans van Griensven, at a recent staff meeting. “We’re here to make the Taliban irrelevant.”

Thousands of fresh Western troops have flowed into Afghanistan since last year, seeking to counter the resurgent Taliban before an expected spring offensive. Many American units have been conducting sweeps and raids.

But here in Uruzgan Province, where the Taliban operate openly, a Dutch-led task force has mostly shunned combat. Its counterinsurgency tactics emphasize efforts to improve Afghan living conditions and self-governance, rather than hunting the Taliban’s fighters. Bloodshed is out. Reconstruction, mentoring and diplomacy are in. American military officials have expressed unease about the Dutch method, warning that if the Taliban are not kept under military pressure in Uruzgan, they will use the province as a haven and project their insurgency into neighboring provinces.

The Dutch counter that construction projects and consistent political and social support will lure the population from the Taliban, allowing the central and provincial governments to expand their authority over the long term...."

Now if only we could get a someone in the US administration to study Sunzi bingfa (Sun Tzu).

Sigh - just got back to London - its 10C, and overcast - why the hell did we leave Sydney? God what a beautiful place; and we never even got to Perth or even most of the 'outback'. I've got to go back there soon.

Rob

And heaven forbid that any of our intelligence people should wander near the Iranian border and end up hostages. It would be all Bush would need to start that war he wants so badly with Iran.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has tried to instigate such a thing. Probably would were it not for the internal opposition and disrespect for him within the intelligence community.

Maybe noone wants to risk their neck in one of his and Cheney's misguided self-aggrandizing plots.

But then again he's probably fired all the best Farsi speakers for being gay anyhow. Alas, a benefit.

Well - here is a slightly different take on the Dutch - who suffered their first casualty in combat last week in Afghanistan.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/206435

Some of the more pertinent quotes from the story.
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"The Dutch, with some notable and under-reported exceptions, do not fight. This is not meant as an indictment or slur against their character because it has nothing to do with courage or lack thereof.
It's all about orders, rules of engagement determined by The Hague, and caveats imposed on Holland's contribution, some 2,000 troops in all, to the NATO coalition.

These caveats – and most alliance nations have insisted on them – have been tremendously frustrating to NATO command and most especially Canada, whose soldiers are doing so much of the heavy combat lifting, with casualties to match.

That idiosyncrasy in approach – rightly or wrongly, defensible or questionable – also explains why this was their first combat fatality, compared with 54 deaths for Canadian troops in the same period, just over a year in the volatile southern provinces of Afghanistan.

It's an approach that appeals to many Canadians, some of whom earnestly call for this country's troops to do ditto, as if any of these benign undertakings could be launched without somebody first assuming the perilous security duties which, yes, do involve raids and searches and sometimes disgruntled civilians.
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