Comments on: More European Press Coverage of the Human Terrain System

By: The Diary of Ted the Tongue: Pinecone Anthropologist « ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

The Diary of Ted the Tongue: Pinecone Anthropologist « ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:10:46 +0000

[...] an earlier article, “More European Press Coverage of the Human Terrain System,” I referred to an article in Germany’s GEO Magazine which carried an extensive article [...]

By: Maximilian Forte

Maximilian Forte — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:44:23 +0000

I am not arguing against anything that you have said. That it appears to be a smarter solution than HTS on a number of grounds, is not a controversial statement for me. I am instead raising other issues that go beyond your assessment.

Opposition to the war in Afghanistan has reached a very high level in Britain: at 72% opposed, it is one of the highest levels of opposition to be found in any NATO country. Civilian policy makers, spokespersons, the media, and military promoters have failed to convince most British voters that the war in Afghanistan is one that deserves to be fought, and former PM Gordon Brown’s hyperbolic imagination (unless we fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, we will be fighting them on the streets of London) has only invited greater rejection.

The point is this: if you cannot convert your own population, people that presumably you understand, that require no linguistic specialists on your part, then how do you think that 40 linguists (or 4,000 if you wish) are going to convert and win over Afghans who are at the bloody end of the NATO stick?

Yes, no doubt, DCSU will better enable British forces to communicate with locals. What that means, and where one thinks that will take them, is what I am questioning.

By: Bradford Counter

Bradford Counter — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:34:19 +0000

The UK solution, noted above by Maximilian Forte is novel; it looks as if Lt Colonel Steven Windmill cleverly side-stepped the weakness’s of our US Army’s HTS approach by focusing recruitment on Reservists and Regular personnel who (i) are linguists (enabling them to speak directly with local nations) with (ii) a mix of social science backgrounds.

This approach should give the best of both worlds; a broad spectrum of social science skills combined with credibility within military and government circles from their rank. The concept of using linguists to by-pass the severe constraints found with employing local natives a translators was inspired – with their education usually ended at aged 14 or less, these people struggle to understand the concepts of law, order, economics, governance and strategy, let alone translate those terms into another language.

The training of these DCSU people is key; speaking the language will help and using a social science toolkit will engender understanding … but being able to directly engage and influence key leaders will be the most valuable skill. These DCSU people must be able to move beyond mere understanding and be able to influence both local leaders and their own military commanders alike.

If this approach works, we should invite Lt Colonel Windmill to come here and talk to our own US commanders.