With
a flawed Afghan election and a request for more troop increases by General
Stanley McChrystal, there is renewed attention toward whether and how the
United States can turn the situation in Afghanistan around. Several options for
going forward have been proposed: a resource- and manpower-heavy
counterinsurgency strategy; a more scaled down counterterrorism campaign; and
various models in between those extremes. Yet regardless of which option is
chosen a key ingredient of success will be the degree to which Afghan
communities are invested. Unfortunately, regaining their trust and confidence
will be no small task given the current environment. High civilian casualties
and a corresponding failure to protect Afghans from the daily brutality of
insurgents, criminal groups, and warlords lead Afghans to regard international
military as impotent, malevolent, or both. Though billions have been spent to
build schools, support economic development, and other initiatives, corruption,
security concerns, and mismanagement lead Afghans to view these projects as
symbols of Afghan and international fecklessness and failure rather than
reasons to cast their lot with them in the future. Successful Taliban
propaganda, often based on legitimate community grievances, has further fueled
mistrust between the Afghan population and those who are supposed to be
protecting their interests.
While
there has been much talk about enhancing the legitimacy of the Afghan
government and winning "hearts and minds", it seems unlikely that elections or
military slush funds will get anywhere near what Afghan communities perceive as
the problem. Based in large part on on-the-ground observations and discussions
with Afghan civil society groups, this talk will focus on some of these
community perceptions and narratives about what is fueling the conflict with a
view toward better analyzing the strategic implications.
Erica
Gaston is a human rights lawyer
consulting on civilian casualties for the Open Society Institute in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. She first visited Afghanistan in 2007 to conduct research for a
legal study on private security companies, and then moved to Kabul in 2008 with
the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), whose mission is to
encourage warring parties to provide compensation, victim assistance,
recognition or other redress to victims of conflict. In addition to her work
with CIVIC, she worked extensively with the Afghanistan Independent Human
Rights Commission, and was the lead editor on their 2008 report on the conduct
of pro-government forces in Afghanistan. She also worked with the Afghan NGO
WADAN, which focuses on grassroots civic education, governance and human rights
advocacy.
In
addition to her work in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Erica has also been involved
in other human rights documentation and advocacy related to the
Israel-Hezbollah conflict in the summer of 2006, situations of ethnic conflict
in Ethiopia, cluster munition use, among others. She has also published legal articles related to the
accountability of private security companies, issues and problems inherent in
the humanitarian project, and the improvement of emergency preparedness for
homeland security and counter-terrorism purposes. She is a blog contributor to
the Huffington Post and has provided commentary on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, CBC,
and other local and international radio programming.
Erica
graduated from Harvard Law School in 2007. She graduated with a B.A. in
International Relations, with honors in International Security, from Stanford
University.
