Civilian surge: an expensive failure or an emerging force?


AFN Leads with a headline that Risks Limit Civilian Movement:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...MFjVWJE9A0Zcdg

""So what we're doing is embedding a lot of our civilians with our military troops," the chief US diplomat said as she stood next to Jandrokovic.

The policy allows the civilian experts and aid workers to get out "at the same time or literally the next day after the Marines and the army have sent the go signal that civilians can begin to work with... the Afghan people on a range of issues," she said.

But John Dempsey, a United States Institute of Peace analyst, told AFP last month that if civilians are stuck mainly on a military base or with armed escorts, "the impact of the increase will be marginal yet expensive."

President Barack Obama has called for increasing the number of civilian experts from 320 in January 2009 to 974 by January 2010 in order to help the Kabul government serve its people and wean the economy off opium production.

Jack Lew, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, told US lawmakers Wednesday that he forecast a "20 to 30 percent" increase in 2010 above the current civilian target of 974."

Attackerman writes about a civilian to military ratio of 1 to 100.

"About 1,000 civilians overall in Afghanistan,” with 400 of those “out in the field” beyond Kabul, “USAID development specialists, Department of Agriculture specialists, throughout the country,” law-enforcement, DEA agents. They’ll “multiply the effects of wherever they are by hiring Afghans.”"

The civilian surge continues to be emerge...