Hi Wilf,
Hmmm, okay, I think this may be a terminology problem (aka, I forgot to unpack my brain ).
Absolutely, the data for the study has to be Taliban behaviour and the Taliban "material artifacts" (e.g. night letters, propaganda, etc.). But the Taliban (and everyone) operates with certain un-voiced logics and assumptions which shape their behaviour and products, and these logics and assumptions are operationalized assuming a semantic network. Hmmm, this is getting more, not less, complex!
The logics and assumptions are primarily cultural, while the semantic network is "cultural" but, also, rooted in Islam as a whole (as an example, the laws of war are different between Pastunwali and Islam, and both have strong symbolic resonance).
So, if we want to understand, say, their inflitration / intimidation tactics, we look at their behaviour, try to figure out the patterns and then start looking at cultural myths and myth patterns contained in Islam. BTW, this is also the same process that is used in constructing both CA, IO and PSYOPS counter-propaganda (or it should be... ).
For the average NCO or junior officer, this really doesn't mean that much and getting into the analytic details would be somewhat ridiculous, at least at the level of required, formal PME. Where it is appropriate in the PME cycle is in things like a general discussion of narratives (which is one of the technical terms for this) and then giving a few examples while making more available if people want to get into it deeper.
You mentioned the primary requirement being the skilled application of force, and I don't disagree at all. The problem, however, is, to use an analogy, in figuring out where and how to apply the appropriate force to achieve the desired result (i.e. targeting and force selection). Now, the application of force assumes that that force will be "read" as a message; in effect, the type of force and target selection for force application is a "language". The real problem is the assumption that it is a universal language - it isn't - and this is where cultural logics and semantic networks come in.
Hey, when I was trying to get a handle on the Soviets (many, MANY years ago), I just read Russian history - worked wonders!
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