Thai Village Security Lessons for Afghanistan
Thai Village Security Lessons for
Afghanistan
by Jeff Moore
the full article
As General David Petraeus takes over military command in Afghanistan, a major
point of contention has arisen regarding village security forces — are they to be,
or not to be? Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his supporters are weary,
saying village security forces will become tools of warlords and undermine central
authority. General Petraeus and his subordinates think they are valuable to
their COIN strategy. A hyper-political debate, full of miss direction, is
likely to follow as both sides maneuver to control the issue. Village security,
however, is essential to separating the people from insurgents, no matter what the
war. Examples from Thailand’s COIN successes can help show the way forward.
the full article
Jeff Moore is an assistant professor at National Defense University’s Irregular
Warfare Department. He is latter stage PhD candidate at the University of
Exeter. His subject is Thai COIN strategies and tactics and his dissertation analyzes
lessons learned from Thailand’s past successful and current COIN campaigns to reveal
patterns on how the Thai strategize and execute counterinsurgency. Moore’s
work experience includes executive protection details and protective intelligence,
corporate security in Southeast Asia, and defense contracting for various government
entities, including the U.S. Army G-3 in the Pentagon.
