[R-G] Marines immobile in Afghan red tape

[Anthony Fenton]

www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.afghan11apr11,0,925607.story
Marines immobile in Afghan red tape: Multinational force has multiple  
leaders
By David Wood
Sun reporter
April 11, 2008
KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan

Disagreements and coordination problems high within the international  
military command are delaying combat operations for 2,500 Marines who  
arrived here last month to help root out Taliban forces, according to  
military officers here.

For weeks the Marines -- with their light armor, infantry, artillery  
and a squadron of transport and attack helicopters and Harrier strike  
fighters -- have been virtually quarantined at the international air  
base here, unable to operate beyond the base perimeter.

Within immediate striking distance are radical Islamist Taliban forces  
that are entrenched around major towns in southern Afghanistan, where  
they control the lucrative narcotics trade and are consolidating their  
position as an alternative to the U.S.-backed government of President  
Hamid Karzai.

But disputes among the many layers of international command here -- an  
ungainly conglomeration of 40 nations ranging from Albania and Iceland  
to the U.S. and Britain -- have forced a series of delays.

Unlike most U.S. military operations, even the small details of  
operations here -- such as the radio frequency used to evacuate a  
soldier for medical care -- must first be coordinated with multiple  
military commands.

Then, there have been larger disputes over strategy. Some commanders  
here want more emphasis on civic action in conjunction with local  
Afghans. Others believe security must take precedence.

For Marines, who are accustomed to landing in a war zone and  
immediately going into action with their own plans, the holdup has  
been frustrating.

Frequent changes among command leaders and unclear lines of authority  
have made it difficult for the Marines to win general approval for the  
timing, goals and extent of proposed operations.

Marine operations planning, which is routinely completed in hours or  
days, has gone on for weeks while they await agreement and approval  
from above.

"They invite us here ... and they don't know how to use us?" said Lt.  
Col. Anthony Henderson, commander of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines.  
"We are trying to keep our frustration in check ... but we have to  
wait for the elephants to stop dancing," Henderson said, referring to  
the brass-heavy international command.

"The clash is between the tactical reality on the ground and political  
perceptions held elsewhere," Marine Maj. Heath Henderson, deputy  
operations officer for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, told his  
staff. "You can make your own judgments about which you think will  
prevail."

Including the Marines, there are 17,522 allied troops in southern  
Afghanistan, including British, Dutch, Canadians, Danes, Estonians,  
Australians, Romanians and representatives of nine other nations,  
according to the high command.

These coalition military forces are assembled under the banner of the  
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), commanded by U.S. Army  
Gen. Dan K. McNeill, headquartered in Kabul with an international staff.

Beneath McNeill are five regional commands and numerous national  
military commands. Henderson's Marine battalion and its parent task  
force, the 24th MEU, officially are under the command of ISAF and  
McNeill. But they are assigned to work in conjunction with the  
regional command here and other coalition forces.

Coordination on long-term strategy is complex, staff officers here  
said, because the commanders and staffs at each level regularly  
rotate. Regional command south here, for instance, changes every nine  
months between British, Canadian and Dutch officers.

With one proposed operation temporarily blocked, Henderson told his  
planners to consider a scaled-back option.

"I think it's a stretch, but let's look at it," he said, adding  
glumly, "as the sound of desperation seeps into my voice."

The regional command here, RC-South, declined to comment on any  
command issues. In Kabul, Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, a senior spokesman  
for the ISAF, said the Marines "answer to" ISAF but are under the  
"tactical control" of RC-South. He said ISAF was satisfied that this  
is the best arrangement to "coordinate and synchronize" combat  
operations.

In case of a disagreement, McNeill would make the final decision, said  
Branco, a Portuguese officer.

The problems are magnified when Afghan government officials at the  
national and provincial level weigh in with their own judgments. The  
result, some say, is that the counterinsurgency campaign, which is  
inherently difficult enough, suffers from the lack of a clear vision  
and strategy.

"We don't understand where we are going here," said Lt. Col. Brian  
Mennes, commander of Task Force Fury, a battalion of paratroopers just  
leaving Kandahar after 15 months of counterinsurgency operations here.  
"We desperately want to see a strategy in front of us," he said in an  
interview.

NATO's only previous experience with coalition combat came almost a  
decade ago with the air war against Serbia. Afghanistan is the first  
time the alliance has attempted to coordinate ground combat among  
forces that often don't speak the same language or use the same radio  
frequencies.

With British, Canadian and U.S. forces fighting in close proximity  
here, for example, their operations officers must agree even on such  
details as requests for medical evacuation of the wounded: the  
decisions include who takes the call, whose aircraft responds and  
where the wounded soldier is taken.

At the staff level, such difficulties usually are worked out with  
grace and humor and with a warrior's sense of shared mission. In  
response to a Marine request this week for help with supplies, a  
British liaison officer was accommodating. "You'll get what we have,"  
he said.

Bigger problems run afoul of conflicting strategies and easily bruised  
national pride.

At another planning session, a question arose about the capabilities  
of a British combat unit. "I can tell you they have killed more people  
than anybody else in this room," a British major declared hotly. There  
was shocked silence from the roomful of Marines, most of whom have  
done two or three combat tours in Iraq and don't boast about  
battlefield exploits.

Meantime, the 2,500 Marines here train, clean their weapons yet again,  
take long conditioning runs along the dust-choked perimeter roads, and  
wonder when they're going to begin what they came for.

"This is killing us," says a staff sergeant. "There's only so much  
training you can do, especially considering that most of my Marines  
just got back from Iraq."

But living conditions at this huge base are comfortable, with a well- 
stocked PX, an off-duty recreation area with a Burger King and pizza  
shop and an Afghan bazaar. Marines sleep on cots in air-conditioned  
tents, and the food is considered above-par.

"This place is like a resort, and that makes the waiting a lot  
easier," said Lt. Shaun Miller, 24, a platoon leader from Austin, Texas.

david.wood at baltsun.com