Civilians in the Clear Phase of a Counterinsurgency
The Closers (Part 2):
Civilians in the Clear Phase of a Counterinsurgency
by Colonel Gary Anderson
Download The Full Article: Civilians in the Clear Phase of a Counterinsurgency
The transition from a primarily military effort to one of host nation civilian leadership in any insurgent conflict that Americans become involved in is a delicate process in which American civilians should play a central role. If a counterinsurgency is done properly, the seeds of the end should be sewn at the beginning. This was the case in El Salvador, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan. In Asia, we had to learn the hard way.
Clear, hold, and build is the mantra of counterinsurgency operations as American doctrine defines them. FM 3-24 (Counterinsurgency) is now officially considered interagency, not just military doctrine; it is an accepted interagency approach, and I believe in it. I’ve seen it work first hand in two distinctly different parts of Iraq and in recent months we seem to be finally making it work in Afghanistan if the research I have done for this study is correct; but it is not a slam dunk.
If improperly applied, it won’t work at all. As with politics, all insurgencies are local. If the local population is hard core anti-American or anti-government for whatever reason, it will be difficult to wean them to the government side. This usually happens when the government is made up of an ethnic or religious group that has traditional animosity to the local population; these situations are relatively rare, but they happen. In such cases, the second method of ending an insurgency (ruthless local suppression) may be the host nation government’s final recourse. That should be their decision, not ours. Fortunately, these situations are generally the exception in insurgencies. The normal case is one in which the population is on the fence. The general population base is usually open to persuasion, but it is also open to intimidation if the population is not protected from the insurgents.
Download The Full Article: Civilians in the Clear Phase of a Counterinsurgency
The Closers (Part 1): How Insurgencies End can be found here.
Gary Anderson is a retired Marine Corps Colonel who served as a Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Defense on Counterinsurgency from 2003-05. He served on an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team in Iraq in 2009-10, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Relations.
