Tuesday, January 31, 2023
  • About us
    • Write for us
    • Disclaimer
    • Terms of use
    • Privacy Policy
  • RSS Feeds
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
DefenceTalk
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports
No Result
View All Result
DefenceTalk
No Result
View All Result

Costs of War: Renting Victory

by International Relations and Security Network
February 25, 2010
in War News
3 min read
0
14
VIEWS

The decision last week by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to approve $150 million in military aid to Yemen is the latest effort to shore up the government there as a war on terror ally. But if victory could be bought, the war would have been over long ago, Shaun Waterman writes for ISN Security Watch.

The Yemen aid package represents a near trebling of US military assistance to the government headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, which received $67 million last year. It is the latest in a series of efforts undertaken or supported by the US to turn the tide in its global conflict with al-Qaida by shoveling money at the problem.

Last month, an international conference in London pledged $140 million to support an Afghan government effort to reconcile Taliban leaders and reintegrate their foot soldiers.

The effort, run by an Independent National Commission for Peace and Reconciliation headed by former anti-Communist mujahedin leader Sibghatullah Mojadeddi, has in fact been ongoing since 2005, but has been dogged by problems.

The Crisis States Research Centre at the London School of Economics analyzed the Afghan effort – known as the Takhim-e-Solh, or ‘Strengthening Peace,’ program – in a report last month. According to the center, some of those who accepted reintegration “found out that they were not necessarily safe, and in a significant number of cases participants were not treated by international military forces in keeping with the [reintegration] agreement.” Other participants did not receive promised financial support, “creating problems with the credibility of the whole process.”

“As a result,” the center’s report concludes, “trust was lost” and no more than 2,000-3,000 combatants were successfully processed through the program.

Nonetheless, this kind of effort is now seen by US policymakers as part and parcel of any low intensity conflict. So much so that since the end of 2008 it has even merited its own place in the US Army’s vaunted Field Manual – its ‘how to’ guide on military operations.

“Reintegration is the process through which former combatants [and] belligerents […]receive amnesty, reenter civil society, gain sustainable employment, and become contributing members of the local populace,” reads FM 3-07, the section of the manual covering stability operations. “Reintegration […] includes programs to impart marketable skills to demobilized armed forces and groups […] relocation assistance to support their resettlement in civilian communities; basic and vocational education; and assistance in finding employment in local economies.”

The sub-text is clear: We pay, they stop fighting.

The rent-an-insurgent phenomenon
But what is sauce for the goose is obviously sauce for the gander, too. It is not just in Afghanistan – where more than a third of the insurgency’s foot soldiers are estimated to be among the so-called $10-a-day-Taliban – that US enemies are apparently attempting to buy support and loyalty from the local population.

In Somalia, the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab has been recruiting ethnic Somalis from Kenya to fight with them against the internationally backed transitional government in Mogadishu – offering unemployed youth up to $600 a month, according to the BBC. The same report alleged that the Kenyan military was training other ethnic Somalis to fight with the Mogadishu government against al-Shabab.

The problems with this strategy are manifold and increasingly manifest.

To begin with, efforts to buy support can easily boomerang, as one British diplomat points out.

US and allied backing for reintegration efforts risks alienating Afghans, creating a public perception that the coalition wants “to strike a ‘power-sharing’ deal with the Taliban so we can leave quickly,” wrote Simon Shercliff, a senior official at the British Embassy in Washington.

The US aid to Yemen will be used to buy equipment and training for the country’s counterterrorism forces, reported Reuters, citing unnamed US officials.

But other reports have pointed out that increasing US support for the Saleh government “risks tying the United States more closely to an autocratic ruler whose repression of economic and political grievances is strengthening the terrorists and pushing his impoverished nation toward breakup.”

”Any association with the [Yemeni] regime will only confirm al-Qaida’s narrative, which is that America is only interested in maintaining corrupt and despotic rulers and is not interested in the fate of Arabs and Muslims,” warns Bernard Haykel, a Princeton University professor.

Moreover, he who pays the piper only calls the tune as long as he continues to pay. The ethnic Somalis the BBC interviewed gave up the insurgency and returned to Kenya as soon as al-Shabab stopped paying them.

If it is true, as Afghans are fond of saying, that you cannot buy an Afghan’s friendship, but you can rent it, for how long will the US and its allies keep paying the rent? And what will happen when they stop?

Shaun Waterman is a senior writer and analyst for ISN Security Watch. He is a UK journalist based in Washington, DC, covering homeland and national security.

Tags: afghanistancost of wariraqwarwar on terrorYemen
Previous Post

Gates Voices Concern Over NATO Shortfalls

Next Post

Heron-TP Eitan UAV Inducted into Israel Air Force

Related Posts

China made third-largest air incursion this year, says Taiwan

Senior US general warns of possible looming war with China

January 28, 2023

A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025 -- most likely...

Denmark in talks with Israel to replace howitzers donated to Ukraine

Denmark in talks with Israel to replace howitzers donated to Ukraine

January 27, 2023

After pledging all 19 of its French-made Caesar howitzers to Ukraine, Denmark is in talks with Israeli arms maker Elbit...

Next Post

Heron-TP Eitan UAV Inducted into Israel Air Force

Latest Defense News

India approves purchase of 33 Russian fighter jets

Two Indian military jets crash, one pilot killed

January 30, 2023
China made third-largest air incursion this year, says Taiwan

Senior US general warns of possible looming war with China

January 28, 2023
French Air Force Mirage 2000 jet fighter

France could meet Ukraine’s demand for fighter jets

January 27, 2023
Denmark in talks with Israel to replace howitzers donated to Ukraine

Denmark in talks with Israel to replace howitzers donated to Ukraine

January 27, 2023
Israel, Gaza militants trade missiles after deadly West Bank raid

Israel, Gaza militants trade missiles after deadly West Bank raid

January 27, 2023
Leopard tanks to arrive in Ukraine around late March: Germany

Leopard tanks to arrive in Ukraine around late March: Germany

January 27, 2023

Defense Forum Discussions

  • The Russian-Ukrainian War Thread
  • NZDF General discussion thread
  • ADF General discussion thread
  • Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates
  • Japan, Koreas, China and Taiwan regional issues
  • Italy defence procurement, arms counter-trade and weapons exports
  • China - Geostrategic & Geopolitical.
  • Military Aviation News and Discussion
  • Turkish navy
  • NATO
DefenceTalk

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com

Navigate Site

  • Defence Forum
  • Military Photos
  • RSS Feeds
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Defense News
    • Defense & Geopolitics News
    • War Conflicts News
    • Army News
    • Air Force News
    • Navy News
    • Missiles Systems News
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Defense Technology
    • Cybersecurity News
  • Military Photos
  • Defense Forum
  • Military Videos
  • Military Weapon Systems
    • Weapon Systems
    • Reports

© 2003-2020 DefenceTalk.com