Via Defense Tech, Charles Pena has a nice op-ed on airpower and counter-insurgency in The Bulletin:
Even if civilians are not killed (the military claims that 35 al-Qaida militants were killed in the attack that dropped 40,000 pounds of bombs and that there were no civilian casualties), bombing results in destruction and devastation (the attack destroyed 25 homes and 13 vehicles). And the reality is that a bombed-out house is a bombed-out house - while the returning occupants may be happy to have al-Qaida out of the neighborhood, they may not be too happy about their house. The wake of such wreckage runs contrary to FM 3-24 and another important tenant of counterinsurgency: "Successful counterinsurgents support or develop local institutions with legitimacy and the ability to provide basic services, economic opportunity, public order, and security." So while bombing may be one solution to achieving security, it may also create setbacks to providing basic services and economic opportunity - and ultimately counterproductive to counterinsurgency.
The property damage and communal effect point is interesting. There's no question that precision-guided munitions work better in a counter-insurgency campaign than their dumb counterparts, but even the most precise weapon still destroys a house (including whatever non-insurgents live there), damages the buildings next to it, and leaves a burned out frame that in itself contributes to social discord.
And as if to illustrate these points:
Afghan and international troops, acting on intelligence, raided a compound in the Bakwa district of Farah province late on Sunday, Mahaiddin Baloch said. A Taliban commander who owned the house, Mullah Manan, managed to escape with four other fighters, but two other Taliban commanders in the compound were killed by a ground and air attack, Baloch said. Six civilians were also killed, he said.
The issue of civilian casualties is sensitive as it saps support for the pro-Western Afghan government and foreign troops, and Afghan leaders regularly urge international forces to exercise care when choosing targets.
--Robert Farley
