The Asymmetrical Advantage of the Non State Soldier: The Case of

Afghanistan

Martin Scott Catino, Ph.D.

Henley Putnam University

Caveats• This presentation is a basic overview of the asymmetrical

warfare advantages of one specific group/organization of non state soldiers: The Taliban.

• This groups possesses a variety of the skills, capacities, and advantages that are organically and operationally asymmetrical to its Western and state opponents, namely Coalition Forces (CF), Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA).

• This brief is a representation of several chief advantages and is not comprehensive or detailed, but is an introduction to the subject of asymmetrical warfare of non state soldiers.

• These advantages do not make the non state soldier superior in overall capabilities but rather indicates their areas of strength.

Main Points:

• The non state soldier often possesses a superiority in politico-military qualities that are honed to operate in complete asymmetry to their conventional, Western, and state enemies.

• The result of the exploitation of this asymmetry by the non state soldier is often a very difficult (not impossible) fight to defeat or degrade them.

Individual and Psychological Asymmetry

1. Singular devotion and impassioned hatred against opponents.

1.1 Hate as a transforming emotion cultivated to transform the self and personal weakness to strength.

2. Experience and familiarity. The insurgent often has lengthy experience (measured in decades) with a corollary familiarity with the local population and terrain.

3. Leadership chosen from combat experience and service.

Non State Soldier Opponent

1. Careerist or nominal commitment

2. The opponent of the INS often lacks knowledge of the lifestyle, culture and local population.

3. Leadership often chosen from political, social, and family backgrounds

Political Asymmetry

1. Concealment of political agenda facilitates subjugation of opponents.

2. Gradual implementation and flexible adaption to local and culturally norms.

3. Acute understanding of the informal and shadow government systems.

4. Ruthless removal of leadership followed by exploitation of leadership gap.

1. Revealing political agenda and system generates open conflict from oppositional forces.

2. Rapid implementation of systems and leaders that may not be culturally and locally compatible.

3. Higher learning curve to understand the informal leadership structures.

4. Hesitant to remove leaders that oppose one’s plans causing linkage to corrupt and ineffective leadership.

Non State Soldiers Opponent

Military Asymmetry

1. Utilization of low cost weapons and supplies in order to prolong the fight (weapons procurement often from raids of opponents)

2. Low risk operations executed in order to lower casualties, build support, and increase time, the enemy of industrial, and established states.

3. Indecisive operations used to exhaust opponent’s will, finances, and support.

4. Maximum use of local terrain to one’s advantage.

5. Low technology used to advantage

1. Reliance on heavy and expensive weaponry

2. High risk operations that directly attack enemy forces

3. Conducting more decisive operations to destroy the enemy’s strength

4. Exploitation of terrain often takes longer, poses an obstacle, or is less advantageous.

5. Utilization of advanced technology.

Non State Soldier Opponent

Economic Asymmetry

1. No ideological commitment to economic systems: pragmatism, feudalism/favoritism, cronyism.

2. Use of informal, illegal, and local economies to gain resources, contacts, and movement of lethal and non lethal aid.

3. Little effort needed to protect these economies.

Opponent1. Commitment to capitalism

or Western trade relations.

2. Higher dependence on open and formal systems. [vulnerable infrastructure.]

3. Enormous efforts needed to protect these economies from attack, sabotage, and manipulation.

Non State Soldier

Hawala System1. The Hawala system is an

informal money transfer mechanism that is used to transfer legal and illegal funds.

2. The complexity, secrecy, informality, and lack of transparency make the system difficult to trace and highly advantageous for the nefarious activities of non state soldiers like the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Opium Trade Afghanistan

1. Insurgents dominate the largest export product of Afghanistan and therefore have ample local funding of their insurgency.

2. Local population reluctant to relinquish the cultivation of this crop and thus tacit supporters of INS.

3. Opium trade provides logistical, informational, and trans-regional connectivity of INS.

4. Opium Trade corrupts opponents resolve, security, and operability.

Social Asymmetry

Non State Soldier

1. Understands the social networks of tribes, mullahs, maliks, and informal power brokers.

2. Has penetrated these networks and controls some or many of them.

3. Has washed one’s image in these networks creating a cover: tribal, religious, or local.

Opponent

1. Strives to understand these networks and does so imperfectly.

2. Has penetrated some or more of them and seeks to win the counter devolution fight.

3. Will always or often be perceived as an outsider or a puppet of US/CF interests.

Mullahs of Afghanistan

1. Control or influence over vast social networks.

2. Taliban have co-opted many of these mullahs in a direct attempt to control Word of Mouth (WOM) messages and social networks.

3. Powerful means of messaging to the public.

Typical Rural Mosque in Kabul Province

Infrastructure Asymmetry

Non State Soldier

1. Low visibility and shadow infrastructure creates a difficult target.

2. Mobile infrastructure more difficult to target.

3. Infrastructure often protected in foreign countries like Pakistan (sanctuary).

Opponent

1. High visibility and easier target.

2. More static targets like electric, water, and medical facilities easier to target.

3. No sanctuary.

Information AsymmetryNon State Soldier

1. Understanding and dominating informal communications and Word of Mouth (WOM).

2. Low technology communications used to advantage. Command and control via basic systems.

3. Using basic themes and messages to dominate public.

Opponent1. Less understanding and

dominance of WOM and informal communication hubs.

2. Use of complex and high technology communication systems.

3. Using more incidental and event based (more complex) themes to influence public.

Word of Mouth (WOM) hub in Kabul Province

Kuchi Tribes of Afghanistan

1 .Kuchi Tribes sometimes carry weapons and other lethal aide.

2. Their protect status, fluid movement covering large areas of Afghanistan, and simple appearances provides ample opportunity for INS operations.

Physical Terrain and Asymmetry1. Creates cover for movement

of non state soldiers.

2. Creates difficulty for heavy vehicle movement, maneuver, mobility, massing, access, and operability (monsoons, dust storms, etc.).

3. Non state soldiers possess a higher familiarity of terrain, which is often their locality.

Rat Line: Musahi Valley, Kabul Province

Insurgent movement route

Time and Asymmetry

1. Time is among the most important factors affecting the outcome of conflicts and wars.

2. In general, non state soldiers fight “the war of the flea,” seeking to exhaust political, military, and public support of their state opponents.

3. Non state soldiers have directly identified a major weakness in capitalist societies, the pressure of large and small business to seek stability of markets for the sake of business profits. Guided by economic over national interest, the business community exerts negative pressure on government to grant concessions or cease from military action.

Conclusion1. Non state soldiers possess and inferiority of fire-power,

technology, and logistical capacity.

2. Non State soldiers offset these inferiorities by posturing and deploying their assets against the weaknesses of their opponents.

3. Asymmetry is created by the possession and deployment of capacities and assets of the non state soldier.

4. Industrial societies and conventional armies have weaknesses in capacity and operations that are exploited by non state soldiers.

5. Population and terrain exploitation remain among the most important areas utilized by non state soldiers.

6. Initiative is often dominated initially by non state soldiers, who arise with little public knowledge and therefore appear as positive change amid corrupt governments and failing states.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Martin Scott Catino, Ph.D.Henley Putnam University

scatino@Henley-Putnam.edu