US Forces Find Footing In Afghanistan's "Human Terrain"

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An F/A-18C assigned to the "Stingers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 113 refuels with a U.S. Air Force KC-10 in southeastern Afghanistan during a mission supporting British troops in the Helmand province, Afghanistan, Oct. 6, 2008. The USS Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and Carrier Air Wing 14 are providing support to coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan. U.S. Navy photo by Cmdr. Erik Etz

From Monsters & Critics:

Khost, Afghanistan - The young Texan woman talking to the Afghan tribesman wears a US military uniform and carries an assault rifle, but she's not a soldier.

Her training is in anthropology, which is proving an effective tool for negotiating the complexities of Afghanistan's honeycomb tribal structure and, according to a senior US commander, significantly reducing the need for 'kinetic,' or combat, operations. Sponsored Links:

'We describe the environment that the bad guys operate in, build a foundation for units so they can understand their area,' said Audrey Roberts of the seven-member Human Terrain Team (HTT) in the eastern Khost province. 'It's important so our soldiers can ask informed questions and so we don't walk round in circles.'

Translated into actions, that means for example that units are able to quickly tap the real powerbrokers as they push into guarded and often fearful rural communities.

'Their expertise rapidly identified who to talk to in the village,' one officer was quoted as saying during a review in the US Congress about the work of the HTTs since their inception in 2007.

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My Comment: 60 main Pashtun tribes, with 400 sub groups .... talk about divided communities and countries.