"NATO to tighten rules on raids on private Afghan homes; Night visits are top complaint among civilians" by Kim Gamel, Associated Press | January 22, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan plans to tighten the rules on night raids on private homes, even if it means losing some tactical advantage, to curb rising public anger....
Yeah, how would you like soldiers busting down your door while you are sleeping, America?
Nighttime raids on private homes have emerged as the Afghans’ number one complaint after General Stanley McChrystal limited the use of air strikes and other weaponry last year. The United States and allied nations have made protecting the population a priority over the use of massive firepower as they seek to undermine support for the Taliban.
You want to protect the population? Stop bombing them and leave.
“It addresses the issue that’s probably the most socially irritating thing that we do - and that is entering people’s homes at night,’’ NATO spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith said Wednesday at his office in Kabul.... The US-led force has become increasingly sensitive to complaints by Afghan civilians as part of a renewed effort to win support among the public and lure people away from the Taliban.
I'm sorry, but it is TOO LATE and we have KILLED TOO MANY PEOPLE!
Night operations risk offending Afghan sensitivity about men entering homes where women are sleeping.
It's not just them! I wouldn't like it, either!
Rafiullah Khiel, a Finance Ministry employee whose uncle was detained by NATO forces during a night raid last fall, said the distraught women and children in the compound were rounded up and locked in a watchtower for several hours while soldiers searched the dwellings. Khiel said the soldiers told the family that they had information that the uncle, a pharmacist, was treating Taliban fighters. “This is just unacceptable to us, to our traditions,’’ Khiel said, holding back tears as he recounted the ordeal during an interview in a home on the outskirts of Kabul....
Some 'liberation."
The inability of the Afghan government to stop what many of its constituents consider abuse in turn generates support for the militants.
Smith said complaints about civilian deaths from air strikes had dropped sharply after McChrystal’s order last year, but Afghans are “not seeing enough difference in our nighttime operations.’’ He acknowledged the possible tactical issues in limiting nighttime action, which gives troops with sophisticated night vision equipment an upper hand and provides an element of surprise.
But he said the problem needed to be addressed in the effort to win the confidence of Afghan civilians and keep them from supporting the Taliban. “We’re not going to be in a position to stop all that activity,’’ he said, suggesting more operations could be carried out during the day in less dangerous areas.
Which means he is ceding the ground to the Taliban, doesn't it?
Smith said the upcoming directive would deal specifically with night raids.
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BREAK 'EM!
KABUL, Afghanistan - In other violence, militants fired on police yesterday, sparking a gunbattle in the middle of a protest over the deaths of four men in a NATO-Afghan raid, officials said. At least two people were wounded in the fighting in the Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province.
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