On Wednesday, June 23, reporter and author Stephen Grey spoke at the New America Foundation about the current situation in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, Afghanistan. The event was moderated by Senior Research Fellow and co-director of NAF’s Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative, Peter Bergen. Mr. Grey spoke first about Helmand, where he was imbedded with coalition troops during the liberation of the town of Musa Qala in the northern part of the province. He reported several issues that British and American forces have been struggling with in this conflict, including the thin dispersion of resources, local resentment of foreign troops, tribal conflict, and the lack of any civilian or political thrust. He described NATO’s tactics of “mowing the lawn” which involves clearing villages by bombs and military force and promptly moving to the next one, allowing the Taliban to immediately move back in. The process is repeated over and over, generating resentment for the Western troops and creating huge amounts of destruction. He also showed a video entitled “Lost in Translation,” which demonstrated the gaping holy created between NATO forces and local Afghans by the language barrier, made worse by translators who do not even speak the local dialects.

Mr. Grey then spoke about Kandahar province, which is incorrectly described by the media as a “Taliban stronghold.” While the Taliban moves quite freely there, the area is still under official government control. However, the officials and businessmen who run the region tend to be warlords and strongmen, who are extremely corrupt and are becoming rich from the opium trade. It is understood by the locals that these corrupt officials are collaborating with the West, which is true in the sense that NATO forces tend to hire their guards, translators and guides from militias run by the warlords. During Q&A, Mr. Grey discussed the prospect of reconciliation, the need to demonstrate to the Afghans that the influence of government can be good, and his thoughts on the departure of General McChrystal.