Sunday, November 21, 2010

Night Raid Controversies

The night raids by Special Operations forces are upsetting President Hamid Karzai. The raids are controversial because Karzai claims that there are civilian casualties and that women and children are being involved. Karzai insists that the Americans stop and that any raid "has to be done by the Afghan government, within the Afghan laws." The raids usually consists of troops surrounding a house or compound (in some cases, there are helicopters involved). The occupants are demanded to come out or they will be faced with violence. The raids have been proven to be very successful in capturing/killing insurgents, according to the NATO statistics:
  • Special Operations forces have been averaging 17 missions a night
  • They have been conducting 1,572 operations over three months
  • 368 insurgent leaders killed or captured
  • 968 lower-level insurgents killed
  • 2,477 lower-level insurgents captured
  • About 80% of the occupants are captured rather than killed
From the Afghan perspective the raids have been flagrant and a symbol of American power. Karzai hopes there will be a decrease in American troops in Afghanistan but U.S. General David Petraeus says that if the raids were to be discontinued then it would be a disaster for the "Petraeus strategy" which is currently relying on night raids.