Shaping the Battlefield in Afghanistan in Dari and Pashto -- not English
by LT Sean "Shoe" Stevens
Download the Full Article: Khastan Tawanestan
How does a nation conduct a successful counterinsurgency (COIN) operation in a country in which it does not speak the local language? Can we facilitate the development of a transparent, corruption-free Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) without being able to communicate directly with its people? These are questions that I wrestled with time and time again during my deployment to Afghanistan. I witnessed first-hand a remarkable dearth in the ability of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) forces to communicate with Afghans. This lack of language abilities in both American military and civilian forces impedes our counterinsurgency campaign. As my tour in Afghanistan progressed, this realization motivated me to attempt—in some small way—to remedy this problem. As a result, I personally taught Dari to hundreds of military members and civilians, and created a six-lesson syllabus for future teachers to follow. While I experienced small successes as a result of my efforts, they were insufficient to overcome the dearth of language capability that threatens to undermine OEF.
Download the Full Article: Khastan Tawanestan
LT Sean "Shoe" Stevens is a Naval Aviator currently working on his Masters degree in Homeland Security and Defense at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
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"Shoe",
Great article. I can only speak for knowing the Pashto language and using it with rural Pashtun people. Yes, words matter. They have meaning. Real meaning. Being able to communicate in the people's language you are trying to help is absolutely critical.
Words are a weapon.
As the Pashtun's say..."words can be your castle or your catastrophe..."
'de Pakhtu lar be neesu'
STRENGTH AND HONOR
Jim Gant
Where are the vast majority of our kinetic engagements in Afghanistan happening? In Pashto-speaking areas. And the size of our Pashto program at DLI, after 9 years, is pathetic, with the majority of Pashto students being from the Air Force and Marine Corps (the only branches with any appreciation of the situation, apparently). Meanwhile, three Arabic schools continue churning out graduates.