Pashtun / Pashtunwali / Pashtunistan (catch all)

[jcustis]

Once again, you are dead spot-on jedburgh. That is the product for sure.

Granite_State, go to this page: http://www.nps.edu/Programs/CCS/index.html

The CCS Occasional Paper Series seeks to further the education and discussion of issues pertaining to culture and conflict in South and Central Asia. CCS disseminates scholarly essays on an ongoing basis that attempt to contribute to the creation of a more stable environment in Afghanistan. These papers identify and discuss contemporary and interdisciplinary issues that affect U.S. national security interests including politics, economics, ethnographic intelligence, culture, geostrategic interests, national and local development methods, regional and cooperative security, terrorism, and tribal relations. CCS papers are written by faculty and staff members of the Naval Postgraduate School, alumni, and guest contributors.

The CCS Occasional Paper series can be emailed to appropriate .mil email addresses. To receive a copy of any or all of our occasional papers, please contact us at ccsinfo@nps.edu or you may contact Professor Thomas H. Johnson directly at: thjohnso@nps.edu. Our papers include:

• Operational Pashtunwali: This paper on "“Operational Pashtunwali” is a slight departure from our previous CCS papers. In response to innumerable requests, we have created a tactical product specifically for squad leaders, platoon sergeants, platoon leaders and company commanders that explains the culture of the Afghan south and how to use it in tactical operations. We hope this paper answers the requests, by explaining how the “code” of the Pashtun people can be used both for force protection and as an offensive force multiplier.

And do the footwork to see if the command can request hard copies already bound. Messing around with electronic copies will work as a stop-gap until the products arrive, but the Marines need to booklets. I happened to stumble on the copy I wound up using. I think I came into owning it because Highlander 6 picked up a copy at one of the cultural training sessions he attended at the Division-level before the deploy.

There's also an AWG smart-card type product, their Tactical Pocket Reference: Afghan Key Leader Engagement.

This is also a good piece of gear. I drafted the battalion's KLE SOP with this product in front of me.

Again, this is just my personal commentary, but it's a shame that a product as simple as this could not be highlighted by the right people, to the people who need it. We've got plenty of experts telling us how important it is to use the appropriate greeting and buzzword, but that isn't operationalized to make us more combat effective. The single most important tool I used during the deployment came into my possession through random chance. I don't think we are getting the return on the investment that the cultural gurus tell us that we are.