Sociocultural Data to Accomplish Department of Defense Missions Toward a Unified Social Framework: Workshop Summary (2011) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Situation in Afghanistan
2 The Situation in Afghanistan
Pages 9-16
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military invaded Afghanistan in 2001. "Appropriately applying respect and sensitivity to local customs and culture can actually help you win the war," MG Flynn said.
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Showing Respect and Sensitivity to Local People and Customs Women make up half of the population in Afghanistan, playing a major role in Afghan families. Thus, MG Flynn said, he has come to appreciate the value of female engagement teams, who communicate with local Afghan women apart from the men, leading to often extremely insightful information collection.
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And what you've got to do is you've got to understand how to deal with them." Human Terrain Teams and Atmospheric Programs In the question and answer session following his speech, MG Flynn discussed two other related techniques for understanding and working with Afghans. First is human terrain teams, which include social scientists embedded in deployed military units to assist in military decision making.1 The teams are intended to help military commanders understand the local culture and history and to help engage and communicate with locals.
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Stability Operations Information Centers Previously, MG Flynn used a kinetic concept of an operations information cell as a tool in the pursuit of Al Qaeda. Recently, he said, he has adapted and expanded those cells to a different purpose and renamed them Stability Operations Information Centers, or SOICs.
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. Afghan Mission Network One of the ways that the military has begun using technology to leverage knowledge is to expand what is called the Afghan Mission Network, MG Flynn observed.
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Security considerations demand that appropriate firewalls exist between the systems, he noted, but technologically it was straightforward to do. LESSONS MG Flynn ended his address by recounting two overall lessons provided by the experience in Afghanistan.
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In response to a question, MG Flynn discussed the sort of training that he would like to see. First, it would be useful to have a number of analysts who are comfortable in different native languages.
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"I use a sidewalk analogy," he said. "We build sidewalks coming out of a building at a 90 degree angle because it looks good, but kids will come out the door and they'll cut across the front lawn, and over time there's a new path built by the shortest walk between two points.
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