News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
U.S. special forces must avoid harming civilians in raids and realise that such operations are best handled by local allies, a U.S. general said on Monday in remarks on a topic of prominent concern in Afghanistan."Raids and kill/capture operations remain important. However, they must be precise," Major-General Charles Cleveland, Commander of Special Operations for U.S. Central Command, told a conference in Jordan."They must avoid producing civilian casualties. Indeed (such operations) are best executed by the forces of the affected countries."Attending an international gathering on the future of special operations forces, Cleveland made his comments in a largely theoretical speech about the future of warfare. The passage on raids did not refer to any country in particular.In March, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, said these forces would be permitted to carry out raids at night only when there were Afghan security forces present.The order fell short of a total ban on raids at night sought by President Hamid Karzai, but would ensure such raids took place only with Afghans included in the planning.TARGETING MUST BE "PRECISE"Civilian deaths and injuries inflicted during operations by international forces have caused deep anger among Afghans. Analysts argue that such casualties encourage people to join the Taliban-led insurgency.Cleveland argued that special operations forces were best suited to handling what many experts see as the increasingly prominent role of counter-insurgency in contemporary conflict.Irregular warfare placed a premium on understanding and working with local populations, said Cleveland, whose area of responsibility includes Afghanistan. Where confrontation was unavoidable, accuracy in using force was essential, he said."Targeting must be precise, both in execution and in selection of timing and objective, and is executed best by forces from the affected country," he said.He said local allies were important to the West in part because large overseas deployments were too expensive."The reality is that today there is no appetite for large foreign military footprint in anyone's country."And moreover, the cost of sustaining such large forward deployed military formations represents a significant financial burden on contributing nations."U.S. special forces still had a long way to go to master warfare in the emerging "human domain" of counter-insurgency, he said, but he added that recent evidence from Afghanistan and Iraq showed special forces were best suited for this new style of conflict.Asked by Reuters if missile attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles complicated the work of special forces by stirring up anti-U.S. sentiment among local populations, he replied that it depended on how such strikes were explained to local people."It depends on the location and frankly how the use of that particular technology has been framed for the local population."He added, in answer to a question, that giving the host country a role in drone attacks would go "in line" with the requirement for more local involvement in conflict, but there was a complication with confidentiality."The industry issue here is how do you give capability without giving away secrets. That's part of the challenge."(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
Click here to read more news from www.newsinfoline.com
Please follow our blogs
newsinfolinephotogallery
prabugallery
newsinfolinephotogallery1
photogallery1
No comments:
Post a Comment