That was an interesting read though a tad conceited IMHO. This is not really a new idea. If anyone is interested in this theory then can I recommend that you read up on the British policy of villagization during the Malayan Emergency? I have sometimes considered whether or not this could be utilized to pacify and then win over the Pashtun.
I fear that these pockets of civilization must be heavily protected otherwise it defeats the exercise in the first place. Protection might mean a physical barrier or at the very least a "digital wall" (can I copywrite that term?
) restricting movement to and from the area. In the heavily agricultural based afghanistan this might not be practical and it is certainly an alien concept for the people.
Sadly in previous attempts at villagization there has always been a level of coercion which would be quite unpalatable in the world today. The British were succesful in Malya in he absence of visual news cover. The Americans employed a similiar policy in Vietnam which proved to be highly controversial. I know that the proposal put forward in the report is different in many ways to these historic events but truely I think the same difficulties would arise.
In my opinion the end results of this policy would be succesful and have positive outcomes for not only ISAF but also for the participating Afghans. However getting to that point I fear would be so traumatic and unpopular that it might be impossible to work. On the otherhand taking half measures would likely result in failure as well, at least in respect to what is already being achieved with todays strategies.
Digital Wall ©2009
