Operating on the Afghan Border (or Not)
by Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Kelley and Lieutenant Colonel Scott Sweetser
Download the full article: The Spaces in Between
"It must be remembered that Afghanistan has for centuries been rather a geographical expression than a country"
--G.A. Henty, For Name and Fame (1900), p. 248
Henty's formulation, captured here from the Boys' Own Adventure genre of fiction popular among empires past, may be cliché and contradictory; but clichés and contradictions can be found in abundance around the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak. Along a jagged, ominous spine of rock in the center of town, a centuries-old fortress looms above the modern blue-roofed, pre-fabricated structures which house private contractors hired to train the border police manning the crumbling fortifications. Narrow, dust-blown alleys and acres of scrap-metal shops are punctuated by walled compounds stuffed to overflowing with gleaming, modern vehicles shipped duty free across the border from Pakistan, before ultimately returning -- again duty free -- to Pakistani markets in a kind of massive, international game of three-card Monte. The local commander of the Afghan Border Police is at once a demonstrably staunch ally against Taliban insurgents, and the subject of countless accusations of corruption, narcotics smuggling and arms dealing.
Nothing is quite what it seems -- not even the border itself. A few kilometres from Spin Boldak, there is clearly a point where the color and style of the uniforms changes, as does the language on official documents. But beyond that, things become much less clear. Is this point the Durand Line, the international border, or merely a convenient location to shift from using Rupees to Afghanis? The truth literally depends upon whom you ask.
It is precisely this indeterminacy which drives the title of this article. As Regional Command-South, we have been tasked to undertake a variety of operations at this particular place. These initiatives do not fall squarely within the responsibilities of the operations division, the support division, or the plans division, but rather within some space in between. They require competencies exclusive to neither the military nor civilians, but rather to some space in between. Authority to address these issues within the Government of Afghanistan does not belong entirely to the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Finance or any of a half-dozen others. The requisite authority does not even belong entirely to the Government of Afghanistan, nor to the Government of Pakistan (and a similarly numerous menagerie of ministries and bureaus on that side). It lies within some space in between. A space which may be a colonial map line, reproduced by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; it may be a more-or-less random point on the ground; it may even actually be the border (or not).
The specific circumstances we encountered in the vicinity of Spin Boldak from Fall 2009 to Spring 2010 may be unique -- indeed one of our fundamental premises is that border related problem sets are inherently idiosyncratic -- but many of the thematic issues, and our approach to addressing these, may well have broader relevance. In a global security environment marked by failing or fragile states, problems of sovereignty -- of which borders are a paramount example -- will routinely emerge. And in the face of hybrid threats, a hybrid response -- which ours most assuredly has been -- may acquire growing utility.
Download the full article: The Spaces in Between
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Kelley is a South Asia Foreign Area Officer. Immediately prior to his most recent tour in Afghanistan as the Chief of Border Operations and Plans at HQ Regional Command-South, he served as the Chief of Defence Cooperation in Kathmandu, Nepal. Earlier FAO service included a tour as the senior strategic analyst at HQ Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan in 2005. He holds a MA in South Asian Studies from the University of Michigan, and authored the book Imperial Secrets: Remapping the Mind of Empire, published by the National Defence Intelligence College.
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Sweetser is a Eurasia Foreign Area Officer. Prior to serving as Director of the Border Coordination Center at Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, he served as the Security Cooperation Branch Chief for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. His earlier FAO experience includes tours with Headquarters, United States European Command and with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He holds an MA in Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky.
