This article on the challenges Marines face in the Afghan town of Marjah describes the state of Information Access Inferiority so well Russ Greene could have written it. Some examples:
"The only time we see [the Taliban] is when we're in contact" in a gunfight, said Cpl. Chuck Martin, 24, of Middletown, R.I.
And even catching a glimpse of them during gunbattles can be rare...
The Taliban never left — they simply went underground, blending in among civilians, taking advantage of the region's terrain of agricultural fields and irrigation trenches to stage daily ambushes of American patrols...
"It's like fighting ghosts. They're in and they're out. They're quick. They've been doing this a long time ... (and) they're good at it."
When U.S. forces go out on patrol, children and farmers come out of their homes and watch them closely. Some are just curious. Others use cell phones to tell insurgents what the Americans are doing....
Firefights often last around 15 or 20 minutes because the Taliban know how long it takes for troops to call in helicopter gunships or mortar barrages, Marines say...
"We try and get them. They hide their weapons ... then they just come back to the same location, pick up the same rifle, shoot at us again."...
U.S. forces across Afghanistan say the key to turning the tide in the nine-year war rests largely on civilians turning against the Taliban. In Marjah, though, that has yet to happen on any significant level, despite the steady presence for more than eight months of two Marine battalions and their Afghan counterparts....
"They don't know who to trust," Long said.
Neither do the Marines.
The insurgents have information access superiority in every sense- they know the people, culture, language, and lay of the land better than the Marines. they know more about the Marines than the Marines know about them, and they weaken information flows to the Marines through Human Network Operations. Not only do they infiltrate civilian populations but they intimidate the rest and hurt our networks by weakening trust. If we could do the same, as the French did in Algeria, their networks would crumble faster than any military victory, arrest, or targeted killing could achieve.
Alex Olesker
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