The additional 17,000 troops the Obama administration is preparing to send to Afghanistan will face both an aggressive, well-armed Taleban insurgency and an unarmed but equally daunting foe: Public opinion.
In more than a dozen interviews across the capital this week, Afghans said that instead of helping to defeat the insurgents and quell the violence that has engulfed their country, more foreign troops will exacerbate the problem. The comments echoed a recent survey by the BBC and ABC News that found that although 90 percent of Afghans oppose the Taleban, less than half view the United States favorably, a sharp drop from a year ago, and a quarter say attacks on US troops can be justified.
The growing negative perception of foreign forces is especially worrisome because US military planners say they are counting on intensified interaction and cooperation with Afghan civilians as a vital complement to their expanded use of ground troops and firepower against the Islamist fighters.
Critics in diplomatic and human rights circles have warned of a conundrum facing the expanded military effort: How can officials protect ground troops from a sophisticated indigenous insurgency without employing more aggressive tactics that will further alienate and antagonize the local populace?
The public disillusionment has several causes, observers said. One is that people see the security situation worsening as the number of foreign troops increases and figure that there must be a connection. Another is that Afghan political leaders, especially President Hamid Karzai, have vehemently denounced coalition bombings that have killed civilians but have been far less outspoken in criticizing Taleban attacks; Karzai often refers to the Taleban as brothers.
“People are getting conflicting messages,” said Ahmad Nader Nadery, a member of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. After a telephone conversation with President Obama this week, Karzai backed off from his harsh rhetoric about coalition bombings, and the two governments agreed to work more closely on military coordination.
A delegation of Afghan officials is traveling to Washington shortly to participate in the new administration’s strategic review of its policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In addition to the widely publicized issue of civilian casualties in coalition air raids, Afghans complain about abuses that are less deadly but closer to home. Many this week recounted experiencing, or hearing from relatives, incidents in which foreign troops stormed at night into houses where women and children were present, arrested innocent farmers as suspected insurgents and forced trucks off highways.
Most of the Afghans interviewed said they would prefer a negotiated settlement with the insurgents to an intensified military campaign. Several pointed out that the Taleban fighters are fellow Afghans and Muslims, and that the country has traditionally settled conflicts through community and tribal meetings.
