[Today we have a special follow-up interview with Maj. Jim Gant, on the subject of how big (or small) a Tribal Engagement Team should be—and what kind of large-scale support it would need. But first I want to say thanks to the many, many readers who have responded to Maj. Gant’s paper “One Tribe At A Time” and to all the members of the military, policy and journalism communities who have helped to circulate it. Special thanks to James Dao of the N.Y. Times (“Going Tribal in Afghanistan”), James Meek of the N.Y. Daily News (“Memo to Obama: Talk to Jim Gant or Risk Losing Afghan War”), to Small Wars Journal and to Col. Dave Maxwell, to BlackFive and Andrew Exum at Abu Muqawama, and to Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) and Mark Safranski (Zenpundit.)

[Now to our interview:]

"Time is our most important weapon on the tactical level--and our most dangerous enemy on the strategic."

"Time is our most important weapon on the tactical level--and our most dangerous enemy on the strategic."

In a Tribal Engagement strategy, sometimes less is more—at least as it applies to the size of the individual Tribal Engagement Team. I wanted to get Maj. Gant’s thoughts on the subject:

SP: Jim, in your paper, “One Tribe At A Time,” you describe the ideal size for a Tribal Engagement Team as between six and twelve. In fact your original ODA team in Konar province was just six men. Why do you believe smaller is better?

JG: Steve, just to clarify, I started with nine guys on the team, but only six were Special Forces. We picked up three additional men in Afghanistan—a TAC-P, a PSYOP attachment and a Civil Affairs attachment. Those three guys went through all of the team’s individual skills training and all the team’s Immediate Action Drill (IAD) training. They lived with us, slept where we slept and did what we did. They were as much a part of the team as anyone. Now to answer the question:

Smaller is better for a Tribal Engagement Team (TET) for several reasons (and this only applies to tribes in Afghanistan.) First, with Afghan tribes there is what I call an “acceptable level of integration.” It is something that can be hard to determine unless you are on the ground with the tribe daily. Too many soldiers in a tribal area can cause major disruption of the daily life of the villagers. It can also bring a fight to the tribe that would not otherwise have been there. With a platoon of soldiers, who likely will set up a mini-fire base, walking around in body armor and helmets, the tribesmen will quickly become alienated by their presence. This is at the tactical level. At the strategic level, too many troops and we become “occupiers.”

What we are after at the tactical level is cooperation without dependence. The bottom line is that the tribe must be able to protect itself. We, the TET, will help facilitate this in a major way, but the TET cannot “secure” the tribe. The tribe has to secure the tribe.

Another point is that this “smaller is better” is counter-intuitive, like a lot of things we do at the tactical level. Tactically what we are dealing with is not a “clash of cultures” but we commit “cultural fratricide,” and too many troops with the tribes would be doing just that – trying to help would actually make the situation worse.

Another positive aspect of using a small team is that we show trust in the tribe on Day One by showing up with so few men. The tribesmen that I have dealt with are extremely smart and savvy. They understand the symbology of coming in with such a small force. It says more to them than any number of words. I can hear critics saying “symbology?” You are willing to risk your life and the lives of your men just to prove your men’s warrior ethos to the tribe? The answer is yes! On the flip side is this: how urgent is it for the TET to establish relationships? To be of value? To show their worth? It will be critical because their lives will depend on the tribes for protection.

The final aspect is one that I think a lot of people are missing. We aren’t going to roll the dice and play “pick a tribe.” Some serious analysis and information gathering must take place prior even to initial contact. That is where a prior relationship is an enormous plus. The Tribal Engagement Team can literally take months (six to nine) off the timeline to start seeing success because they will be going in with a prior relationship.

SP: When we were talking the other day, you said that an Afghan tribe could easily kill the U.S. Tribal Engagement Team attached to it any time it wanted to, because the team’s numbers were so few. Yet you also stated that you and your team felt safer in the village of Mangwel than you did in your own firebase. Why?

"It is not the armor on your vehicles that will keep you safe, but your relationship with the indigenous forces you're working with."  Scott Gross in Mangwel, Konar province

"It is not the armor on your vehicles that will keep you safe, but your relationship with the indigenous forces you're working with." Scott Gross in Mangwel, Konar province

JG: As I have said over and over to my students at the unconventional warfare (UW) stage of their Special Forces training, It is not the armor on your vehicles, your body armor or your weapons systems that will keep you safe … it is your relationship with the indigenous force that you are working with. “Friends don’t let friends get hurt.” This was true in my experience in Iraq, where the fighting was almost constant in ’06-’07, and of course it was true in Afghanistan with Malik Noorafzhal (“Sitting Bull”) and his tribe. “Rapport” is a word that is often thrown around. But what does it mean? It means relationship. What is a relationship based on? How strong is it? Is it mutual? How do you get it?

I have put together a model of how I believe you achieve the ultimate relationship with your indigenous, irregular or host-nation counterpart—with the end-state being “cultural integration.” Cultural integration is the point where you can be yourself and your counterpart can be himself with no concern for cultural taboos or cultural mis-steps. Now this is a very detailed and very long process, but it can and has been done by many more Special Forces soldiers than myself. Take a look at what SF did with the Montagnards in Vietnam. I would also like to reiterate that many other conventional units have been able to establish rapport with irregular forces and have a positive influence over them. It all comes down to TIME. In this type of situation, you have to invest your most precious commodity as an advisor and that is TIME. That is why I don’t care for the term Key Leader Engagement (KLE). In most cases, this is a meeting. Issues are discussed, plans are made, and then everyone goes their separate ways. This is not Tribal Engagement as I see it. In Afghanistan, with the tribes that I dealt with, the relationships grew in direct proportion to the amount of time invested in them. Good old-fashioned seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years. The right five or six guys can offer a tribal leader and his tribe all the time in the world. Time is our greatest weapon at the tactical level and our greatest enemy at the strategic level.

As a tie-in to the above question – there is nothing (and I emphasize nothing) that can prove yourself and your team to the tribe more than fighting alongside them. That is the ultimate testament of your team as warriors and your commitment to the tribe. It will create the foundation for “influence without authority” that is the key to success in tribal engagement.

SP: One sentence popped out to me in last Monday’s post. If you remember, it was from an e-mail written to you by a female soldier who had served in Afghanistan in a capacity close to the tribes. She said, “The improvements in Paktia and Khowst were indescribable, but quickly faded as ‘big army’ moved in shortly after our exit in 2004.” Is there a point or number at which foreign forces on tribal turf become “too many” and cease being viewed by the tribes as guests and instead become occupiers? Do certain tenets of the Pashtunwali code of honor come into play, depending on how many Americans there are in an area?

JG: As I said above, there definitely is a point where too many troops becomes counter-productive. The hard part is determining where that is. There are times and locations where large-scale “search and attack” missions are not only necessary but critical. Even if a large-scale Tribal Engagement Strategy were adopted, there would be many times where a battalion of soldiers would need to air-assault in somewhere and kill insurgents. Also, make no mistake, there will be a lot of fighting at one point or another, even if the TET was extremely successful. The enemy is not just going to sit and do nothing as you build capacity within a tribal area.

SP: Col. Bing West, author of The Village and The Strongest Tribe, just wrote an excellent article for Small Wars Journal called “Afghanistan Trip Report.” One of his observations included the statement, “ … ODA teams quickly develop relationships [with tribes] regardless of tour length, because they are mature. Relationships with Afghan elders require elderly (ahem, E6 or above!) NCOs and officers … “ Would you agree that the ideal composition of a Tribal Engagement Team, in addition to being small, would also be “mature?”

JG: First of all, I am embarrassed to say that I just read The Village by Col. West a week ago. It is a tremendous book with so many lessons that it should be required reading for any TET.

Now, when talking about the specifics of what I would be looking for: first and foremost, I would want warriors–soldiers who like the fight, who enjoy the challenges of combat. Second, they would have to have excellent interpersonal skills. In a lot of cases, this would mean a more seasoned soldier. However, having just spent two years as an instructor out at the unconventional warfare (UW) phase of Special Forces training, I can testify that the majority of the time the worst soldier on the ODA would be the 18X; at the same time the best one would be an 18X. What is an 18X? It is a program where qualified personnel can join up and try out for SF “right off the street,” with no military experience. So I believe it is more about a skill set than about maturity. Now, the average age of a team that I would pick would be pretty “old,” with combat experience and very good interpersonal skills that I would have firsthand knowledge of. They would have to be effective communicators with extreme patience. Lastly, they would have to “want it.” This type of mission and this type of team would not be successful overnight; the team members would have to have an incredible commitment to the mission, the overall war effort, and of course to the tribe they would be living with.

[To be continued next Monday. I want to hear Maj. Gant’s thoughts on what sort of large-force backup the individual teams would need and how he would envision a full-scale Tribal Engagement Strategy working across an entire theater. My plan is to integrate these follow-up interviews as an addendum to the “One Tribe” paper.]

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7 Comments

  1. C Wright on November 9, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    The most intelligently inspiring report & recommendation I have read during this entire conflict, I am going to circulate this far and wide in the hope that it blips on the radar of some policymaker or another. Thank you Steven and Maj. Jim Gant.



    • Jim Gant on November 11, 2009 at 3:26 pm

      C Wright,

      Thank you very much for reading the paper and keeping up with the blog. I appreciate your words and Steve has some great things planned here for the future…

      Take Care,

      STRENGTH AND HONOR

      Jim



  2. Rob Paterson on November 10, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    Dear Maj Gant
    What a productive idea you propose. My bet is that as we see the mess we are in but also fear to leave – that better ideas will be sought and yours is one that has great power – it is also rooted in a successful past strategy of keeping this region reasonably quiet.

    For the Imperial Brits did have such a strategy. And it did work.

    Since reading your paper, I have gone back to looking at the “Frontier Scouts”. The Brits did what you are recommending back in the day.

    These units were raised from Tribes and each was coherent – from one tribe. They were lightly armed and had upto 6 Brits. But some times only 1 when on patrol or in the small forts that were used as blocking places.

    There only defence was the relationship with their men. In many cases, Scouts from the same tribe would fight each other. But sometimes this did not work out as the story attached describes.

    Here is a link to a great site and the story of Col Russell’s classic retreat http://www.khyber.org/publications/011-015/britishretreat.shtml

    Col Russell sounds a lot like you.

    More here on the situation and tactics http://www.khyber.org/publications/041-045/armyininda.shtml

    You are in good company Major Gant.

    The Brit officers had a 3-4 year tour. They wore tribal dress. They were funded not by the army but by the civil power. They were tied into the political agent who also had very long tours of many years and who were embedded into the top tribal ranks.

    I think that there are books to be read and a few people that are still alive that can give you the insight that only one warrior cam offer another.

    A book that is easy to find still is the one I started with – John Masters’ Bugles and a Tiger – his autobiography about his time on the Frontier in the late 1930’s.

    A person whom you could meet woud be Col John Cross who is the MAN is still alive and living in Nepal. He has several books in print and there is a great YouTube interview with him here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnyJfM5_Nbw Part 2 follows.

    He was on the frontier with the Ghurkas in the early 1940’s – he is also one of the most distinguished jungle fighters ever and the embodiment of the kind of officer that has given his life to the people he loves the most – his adopted people of Nepal.

    I have ordered a new book of his that has a forward by Robert Kaplan who knows Cross quite well https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934840785/ref=oss_T15_product

    The definitive book on the Frontier and the approach and operations of the Brits is Chenivix Trench’s The Frontier Scouts – it is out of print but can be found for not too much money on Abe Books. Here is a brief description http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/trave/3571.shtml

    I wish you well
    Yours
    Rob Paterson



    • Jim Gant on November 11, 2009 at 3:24 pm

      Rob,

      Thank you for your post and your continued interest with this idea. As I was putting information together when I first started to try to disect what my team did in Mangwel, within some type of framework or model for success, I read all that I could get my hands on that had anything to do with what the British tried to do in the “Pashtun” controlled area of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I am in total agreement with understanding and learning from what has gone in the PAST. Particluary when dealing with this proud people and their history. They do not see time as we do. To them, Alexander the Great invaded, yesterday…I was intrigued by the reading that I did about the men, and what they were able to accomplish. It is also pretty amazing when you look at what SF did with the Montagnards and the CIDG programs, how similiar they are with what I believe will work in some areas of Afghanistan.

      I will get the books you told me about, as I am an avid reader. It may be the one habit I have that isn’t bad!

      Please stay in touch and continue to give me ideas, thoughts and send good articles that you find my way. You are helping out more than you know by doing this.

      Thanks again for your time.

      STRENGTH AND HONOR

      Jim Gant



  3. Matt on November 15, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Jim, Steve, and company,

    Boy, I really love the conversation here, and the comments remind me of a conversation we had over at Free Range International. Tim Lynch is the author of that blog, and it is a fantastic read in regards to Afghanistan.
    One of the things we discussed was the whole Scout thing, and the name that came up was the Jezailchis or the Jezailchis Scouts concept. The idea being is to not only engage with the tribes, but take advantage of their warrior spirit and create a unit or group that they all want to be a part of that identifies them as a special breed of warrior within their tribe. And in the case of Afghanistan, a warrior class that has some history backing it up, like the Jezailchis.
    The inspirations for the Jezailchis come from all over, but some of the stuff that was being thrown around are the Selous Scouts, Indian Scouts, Groupement de Commandos Mixtes, etc. Small teams doing very interesting things. These guys would be hunters, and have intimate knowledge of the enemy. Hell, have them be former enemy combatants if possible.
    If we want to really get into the OODA loop of the enemy, we need to get small and we need to look like them in order to get close. And if we teach these tribes the tools necessary to be effective fighters, and for years to come, then in essence, we will have taught them ‘to fish’ and feed themselves. Especially if they are all about killing the Taliban and company. I would also give these guys more of a militia status, with a possibility of making them government outright. The reason being, is that if no one trusts the government or has respect for it, then why start a group that is directly attached to it.
    But back to the Jezailchis Scouts. These guys should be masters at combat tracking, marksmanship (heavy emphasis there), survival (not a stretch for a local), scouting, etc. All of this could be taught to these Jezailchis Scouts, and if they are properly vetted, they could certainly have a high possibility of passing the courses. They would also be a source of pride within the tribes.
    Create the brand and the architecture, and we should have a winner. The pay off, is that maybe one day, a small band of Jezailchis Scouts would happen to wonder across that damn border, and get a visual or even a shot at Usama Bin Laden? Or that the JS could be the group that finds the unique little overland paths that the Taliban take in order to go back and forth every season, and calls that stuff into the right folks who have access to CAS. Better yet, if these Jezailchis Scouts started getting a name for themselves, and the Taliban and AQ begins to fear this highly lethal force, then we can really start smiling. It would be the one way to out-Taliban the Taliban, and if done properly, it would be the gift that would keep on giving for years to come.
    We even talked about who could train these new Afghan warriors, or even set up a JZ school in Afghanistan. Tactical Operations Tracking School could be a model. The founder of this school, David Scott Donelan, is former Selous Scout, and has been teaching Combat Tracking for a long long time. He is the go to guy for something like this. No use re-inventing the wheel. I am sure there are some competent combat tracker types in the Special Forces community, but Scott is a master at this stuff.
    Here is a link to the conversation here. Take care. S/F -Matt
    http://freerangeinternational.com/blog/?p=2291#comments



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