New NATO Mission Brings More Misery

In the next few weeks, the Dutch House of Representatives will express its views on a new Dutch mission in Afghanistan. NATO wants us to train police officers. It is not the police as we know it, but paramilitary or “little soldiers” as they derisively are called. These are Afghan, mostly illiterate boys who, after a very short training, will be issued a rifle to fight against the Taliban. The current pressure on the Netherlands has everything to do with a recent change in American warfare.

After the election of Obama, it was decided to limit the large number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan. That meant fewer bombings and more careful actions on the ground. The aim was to prevent more Afghans from joining up with the resistance. The European NATO countries were pleased; they have always criticized the violent American actions in Afghanistan. Among the U.S. military, however, there was great dissatisfaction about the restrictions imposed on them.

But in June, Obama replaced the commander of the joint NATO force, General McChrystal, with General Petraeus. Unfortunately, the other NATO countries were kept out of it because Petraeus does not want anything to do with the advocated restraint of the European countries. Following the arrival of Petraeus, the number of airstrikes significantly increased. Thus, in November 2010, there were 850 missions versus 250 in November 2009.

Simultaneously, the number of night raids has increased fivefold. Dozens of camps are surrounded every night. The occupants are ordered to come out; otherwise they will be shot. With punches and blows the families are rounded up. Weeping women and children are upset and waiting while their house is emptied and the men are brutally interrogated. Often there is a helicopter in the air to shoot people who run.

Last autumn, during a 90-day period, 1,572 overnight raids were conducted in which 2,700 men and older boys were taken to detention camps. In addition to that, 1,100 suspects were shot, which shows that extremely violent action is taken. These night raids lead to great unrest among the population. Because the selected villages are explored by a small plane before a raid, the mere sound of an airplane leads to great nervousness among its residents. Many men leave at night to sleep elsewhere. Even if a helicopter is heard at night, it creates panic and the husbands and sons flee. Then there is the suspicion: Why are they designated as a suspect, and who made the designation?

The discontent among the Afghan people about these nocturnal raids is so great that on Nov. 14, President Karzai made an urgent appeal to the Americans to end this. His request was poorly received by both Petraeus and the U.S. government. The Americans feared that Karzai would repeat his appeal at the major NATO conference in Lisbon, which could overshadow the talks about the future of the NATO mission. General Petraeus spoke for an hour with Karzai, who promised to be silent in Lisbon. And before he could speak, Karzai first had to present his text to NATO.

U.S. pressure on the Netherlands to train this war police is directly related to the new violent approach. The U.S. government wants to expand the police force from 100,000 to 134,000 men in 2011. To the disgust of the European countries, the training time is reduced from eight to six weeks. The U.S. defense budget for 2011 has even more funds for these cheap paramilitaries than for the Afghan army.

These “little soldiers” are not only often used in night raids, but also in heavy fighting with the Taliban and isolated posts in areas that have been captured by the Afghan resistance. But unlike the Afghan army, they have no armored vehicles, and often no helmets and bulletproof vests. Thus three times as many cheap “little soldiers” are killed than Afghan soldiers. It is striking that according to the head of all police and military training in Afghanistan, U.S. General Caldwell, 47 percent of the officers desert after their training. It is assumed that many join the Taliban, or sell their weapons to the Taliban.

The request to the Netherlands by NATO is not only inhumane, but also a pointless project; the misery in Afghanistan will only increase, and therefore we cannot support it.

Sietse Bosgra is known for his participation in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Nowadays, he is engaged with the war in Afghanistan.