Quote Originally Posted by tequila View Post
Isn't that where the whole "separating the population from the insurgents" and "focus on securing the population" comes in? The idea is not to go in without weapons, but rather to use those to protect the population from insurgent attacks rather than attacking the insurgents amongst the population, no?
If someone tells me that defending the population is best enabled by killing and capturing the enemy, I am in complete agreement, because if you don't kill them, once you leave, they come back.

From my understanding, improving government services comes after the population has been separated from the insurgents, in order to remove the root causes of the insurgency and cut it off from its political base.
So once the enemy are gone, you re-assert government control. Sounds good!