Sanctuary (or perhaps just area) denial operations at the Afghanistan village level

[Infanteer]

Western Doctrine has become a bit "phase-obsessed" of late. What can be a helpful organizational construct in general, can in fact, become a mental straitjacket as well.

Often it is far more helpful to think of your operations in terms of what phase YOUR OPPONENT is in, in a given area, with a given populace, perhaps even time of day. Particularly this is true for COIN, which, by definition is a counter to another's operations.

Good points,

To me Clear, Hold, Build should, as mentioned above, be reflective of what the enemy is doing; if I have a large concentration of insurgents who have executed local government officials and are taking over a village, then I have clearly moved into a different situation, regardless if I was making progress the day before; and getting back on track may not even require a period of "Hold" if insurgent influence was minimal. This should simply serve as a construct for how to orient your focus ("Ok, I'll have to put the well project on hold and start shooting out some ambush patrols...."). To avoid the straight-jacket approach, these phases should be seen, as pointed out, as very fluid. It is not simply a matter of A-B-C-D-E and boom, you have victory, but rather how you intend on countering the insurgent at that particular point in time and space....

As much as "what the enemy is doing" should impact what you are doing, I think the key is "how are enemy actions impacting the locals" and that will ultimately define what "phase" you are in. Is greasing the local IED team really going to be the sign that you're defeating the insurgency? I've seen many assessments that say "Yes! We got 'em!" only to be disappointed when the next cool-named dude brings a few of his cousins up and starts the same cycle over again in a week or so.

Now, I may be lambasted as a "COIN-ista" pop-centric, unoriginal fad-chaser just regurgitating FM 3-24, but Colonel Jones has a point. If insurgents are laying bombs on my roads and I was continually shooting them, I could say I was stuck in the early stages of a counterinsurgency effort until the cows came home; the enemy will most likely do this until you leave and his movement has (hopefully) regressed into a criminal enterprise. If the locals are not throwing rocks at you and actively supplying you with information then you are probably making progress. Enemy activity against you can be quite consistent for long periods of time, but when a local leader friendly to government forces disappears, it should be a telling indicator of the potential for problems down the road.

Anyways, I'm off to read about Lawrence of Arabia....

Infanteer