Dispatch from Afghanistan: Fighting the enemy with information

Photo courtesy of Donald Wagner Wagner and the 'Diablos' of 2nd Platoon, Baker Company, on patrol in Afghanistan this summer.

1st Lt. Donald Wagner is a 1997 Penn State journalism graduate. The former assistant editor Penn State sports magazine Blue White Illustrated, he is currently serving in Afghanistan with the 1-506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, based out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Wagner is sharing his experiences on the ground in Afghanistan in a series of dispatches for Penn State Newswire and Penn State Live. In his second installment, Wagner explains some methods of the Taliban and reflecting on starting the semester at Penn State.

For the first installment, visit http://live.psu.edu/story/34170.

In its lifetime, Afghanistan has known peace only a few times. It seems fighting is all this place knows.

The latest battle raging here is against an enemy U.S. forces call simply, “The Taliban,” or AAF (Anti-Afghan Forces) or whatever the politically correct name of the week is. The locals know him in their language of Pashtun and Dari simply as “Mokhalifeen” (Mo-halla-feen).

He is devious and underhanded and will do whatever it takes to keep peace from coming to Afghanistan.

Most of the people we call Taliban see themselves as freedom fighters. To them it is a duty to rid Afghanistan of all western invaders. They will do whatever it takes to meet their goal, including kill and terrorize innocent civilians. There are also local criminals, however, who are nothing more than thugs looking to make a quick buck by using the name of the Taliban, even though they share none of the groups’ ideals or philosophies.

No matter who they are or what they believe their methods are simple. They usually come into local villages during the night. They travel in groups of anywhere from three to 20, often by motorcycle. They warn villagers to stay inside their houses when they come lest harm come to them or their families. When they leave, they warn villagers not to talk to coalition forces or they will return to cut off their heads.

Not surprisingly, the tactic works. Most joint U.S. and Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) patrols that come into villages asking about the Taliban get this standard answer. “I swear to God, I have never seen Taliban in this village in my life.”

This despite the fact that every couple of weeks 100 meters away from that same village the road mysteriously explodes or coalition and ANSF patrols are routinely ambushed in that area.

Make no mistake; the Taliban are not dumb. They know how to play the locals. They love to fire into villages and then blame the Afghan National Police (ANP). They also love to fire at the ANP from those same villages to instigate return fire and then when an innocent civilian is killed or injured, they paint the ANP and Afghan National Army (ANA) or U.S. forces as the bad guys.

The Taliban knows they cannot defeat U.S. and ANSF (the general name by which the ANA & ANP are known) forces head on. So instead, they pick a fight and then quickly melt back into the local populace.

But unlike wars of the past, the winner will not be whomever fires the most bullets but whomever wins the people’s hearts and minds. Information is the weapon of choice in this battle.

The Taliban want to keep the Afghan people in the dark. For example, they routinely order headmasters to close their schools warning that if they don’t, misfortune could befall their families.

But we are working to change that. Information operations are now just as important as combat patrols. I can’t tell you how many times my platoon conducted a joint patrol along with the ANP to a local bazaar where the ANP handed out newspapers touting the work being done in the area by the local government. They also handed out flyers telling people about the local radio station, which has weekly broadcasts talking about everything being accomplished in the province.

Everywhere you look there are small signs of change. In the same local bazaar in my company’s area of operation a solar light project was completed several months ago. These lights allowed the local shop owners to keep their shops safe at night. Additionally, roads are being paved, wells are being dug and schools are being built, among other things.

But we can only prop the Afghan people up for so long. At some point they have to realize this is their country and they must take control. Once they get it figured out, maybe this land will finally know peace.

BACK TO SCHOOL
This is always the time of year when I think back to my time at Penn State. And I’m not sure why either because when I was a student, this time of year officially signaled the end of summer. I was on the Daily Collegian Web site and it took me back to my days a sports writer there. This was always the time when we got together in the newsroom and caught up on our summers and figured out exactly how we were going to attack the upcoming sports season. That got me thinking — All obvious differences aside, my time at the Collegian was similar to my time in the Army. It was a group of people sharing a common goal and interest, banding together for a common cause.

And last but not least, my prediction. Last week was an easy one. I’m not so sure this week will be the same. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill non-con game … Penn State 35, Oregon State 21.