E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

New U.S. Tactic: Employ Poor Afghans
Hearts and minds and the Marine small wars manual.
URGUN, Afghanistan (AP) - With escalating violence threatening Afghanistan's future, the U.S. military has a new focus: employ as many of the poor as possible to rebuild schools and medical clinics so they don't join the Taliban or al-Qaida.

The U.S. military operational commander in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, believes that the more Afghans being put to work helps take away some of the enemies' ability to recruit. "I'd rather have an Afghan national working on a road or helping build a clinic than getting three to five bucks or whatever the Taliban or al-Qaida-associated movement pays him to plant an IED (improvised explosive device)," he told The Associated Press on Saturday. "We are hiring as many Afghans as we can."

As part of the strategy, an ambitious string of reconstruction projects are on the drawing board for fall and winter, when militants here are normally quiet, in an attempt to prevent an insurgent offensive next spring, when snows melt on high mountain passes used by the rebels. Most building projects in past years have slowed down during the winter months when the freezing temperatures make construction difficult. But this year, the military is determined to push ahead with them, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said Sunday.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-07-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=124923