http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/jason-thomas/ Jason Thomas worked alongside US forces in Afghanistan in 2009-2010 and in 2011 with the USMC in Helmand and is preparing to return in early 2012.  He has also worked in the Civil War area in Sri Lanka, negotiating with the Tamil Tigers and South Sudan.  He is undertaking his PhD on home grown terrorism through Curtin University. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weve-lost-the-battle-for-hearts-and-minds/ The murder of 16 Afghan civilians by a lone US soldier in Afghanistan this week is a tragic incident, which destroys the fundamental principles upon which this population-centric war is being fought. This war is as much about winning the hearts and minds of the population as killing the enemy. If the Coalition forces and the Afghan Government cannot be seen to protect the population, then the only alternative is the Taliban.  Counterinsurgency is the military’s version of what our civil criminal and social justice systems do in areas riddled by crime, drugs and a cycle of inter-generational poverty. Whether it’s Afghanistan or the Bronx, the population is the prize and it is no-longer acceptable just to shoot the bad guys. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weve-lost-the-battle-for-hearts-and-minds/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weve-lost-the-battle-for-hearts-and-minds/#item7995 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:10:34 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-afghanistan-trust-no-one-and-question-everything/ In yet another attack by a ‘rogue’ Afghan soldier, four French troops were shot dead last week. Proponents of the current post-modern war fighting doctrine continue to believe we can make people love us.  Counterinsurgency has been a convenient doctrine swallowed by Western leaders as a politically correct way to fight a war. But it is built on the well-meaning principle of “hearts and minds” when it is nothing more than an unhealthy blend of social engineering and pork-barrel politics.  The fact is in Afghanistan they love you until the money stops and even then, as the latest incidents show, nothing will bridge the cultural divide. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-afghanistan-trust-no-one-and-question-everything/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/in-afghanistan-trust-no-one-and-question-everything/#item7586 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:45:53 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Strength-not-kindness-will-win-Afghan-hearts-minds-/ Australian Soldiers are the strongest tribe in Uruzgan Province and it is this profile that wins hearts and minds in Afghanistan, not well-meaning gestures of handing out bags of money. It is that strategic change over the last 18 months that is now paying off in Uruzgan. Afghans respond to what some may call traditional characteristics of bravery, courage, honour and revenge. They are also very polite, even though tomorrow they may kill you. If you could bring back Alexander the Great, he would say we are fighting the same people, using the same tactics they used against him 2,000 years ago. Despite what Australia’s David Kilcullen, the architect of this new pop military version of counterinsurgency (COIN), will have you believe, this is not about a kindler gentler war. There has been a grave misrepresentation of COIN. In fact, unlike author of The Strongest Tribe former Marine Commander Bing West, who has spent endless nights bunkered down under fire with troops, I doubt whether Kilcullen would have been to very far off Route One. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Strength-not-kindness-will-win-Afghan-hearts-minds-/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Strength-not-kindness-will-win-Afghan-hearts-minds-/#item5991 Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:55:54 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-next-terror-plot-will-be-hatched-in-a-leafy-suburb-near-you/ The death of Osama Bin Laden will make no difference to global terrorism inspired by Islamic fundamentalism, and it will have scant impact on the war in Afghanistan.  But the way that the US killed Osama Bin Laden needs recognition; it was the sort of precise, human intelligence-driven operation that must be employed ruthlessly in Afghanistan to capture or kill insurgent leaders as we enter another fighting season. Al-Qaida has not been about Osama bin Laden for quite some time and the Taliban in Afghanistan have not received support from al-Qaida or Osama Bin Laden since the end of initial operations in 2001.  The global Islamic terrorist movement is now a leaderless jihad and is more likely to come from a young IT whiz-kid in his bedroom in one of our leafy suburbs than from an old man hiding in the mountains of the AfPak border.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-next-terror-plot-will-be-hatched-in-a-leafy-suburb-near-you/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-next-terror-plot-will-be-hatched-in-a-leafy-suburb-near-you/#item5753 Wed, 04 May 2011 19:40:48 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Our-politically-correct-war-in-afghanistan/ From working with U.S forces in Afghanistan, many Commanders observed how Afghanistan had become a politically correct war.  Ralph Peters hit the nail on the head in his 2006 New York Post article when he observed that it is hard enough to bear the timidity of our civilian leaders - anxious to start wars but without the guts to finish them - but now military leaders have fallen prey to political correctness.  Unwilling to accept that war is, by its nature, a savage act and that defeat is immoral, influential officers are arguing for a kinder, gentler approach to our enemies.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Our-politically-correct-war-in-afghanistan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Our-politically-correct-war-in-afghanistan/#item5342 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 19:50:06 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weve-got-the-watches-theyve-got-the-time/ A common saying in Afghanistan is “we’ve got the watches they’ve got the time.”  A perfect metaphor to describe the Western obsession time and the Taliban’s eternal patience.  That is why U.S Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates’ statement that the United States will not be leaving Afghanistan is exactly the message to send to the Taliban.  If you don’t have the time don’t start a war in Afghanistan. The simplicity of life in Afghanistan is also a camouflage for the Afghan’s ability to withstand asymmetrical threats from the climate, terrain or a foreign military.  We have failed to recognise their historical capacity to adapt.  Ahmed Rashid, one of the best contemporary authors on Afghanistan, suggests that the devastation of the Soviet invasion and subsequent civil war influenced the Taliban state of mind.  The longer we engage the more they evolve – both politically and violently. They know they don’t have to win the war.  They just have to outlast our domestic time constraints and out-govern Karzai and his corrupt Provincial representatives. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weve-got-the-watches-theyve-got-the-time/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/weve-got-the-watches-theyve-got-the-time/#item4467 Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:50:36 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-leaders-have-no-idea-how-to-win-in-afghanistan/ The Australian public are being fed a one dimensional view of Afghanistan by both sides of politics that is misleading and will only result in further domestic political frustration and a public continuing to question why our troops are not winning the war.  Our mission in Afghanistan will not be successful through military engagement alone.  The Prime Minister must publicly acknowledge that our mission in Afghanistan will only succeed through the implementation of a range of mainly direct civilian engagements outside the safety of our Forward Operating Bases and a long way from the good coffee in the safe compounds in Kabul. War is armed politics and counterinsurgency is an armed variant of domestic politics in which numerous challengers compete for control over the population. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jason Thomas) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-leaders-have-no-idea-how-to-win-in-afghanistan/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-leaders-have-no-idea-how-to-win-in-afghanistan/#item4205 Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:00:17 +0000 Jason Thomas | Author bios | The Punch