U.S. Civilian Mentorship Program: Help or Hindrance

摘要

The protracted war in Afghanistan has led to many methods of countering the existing insurgency through both civil and military means in order to accomplish the operational objectives. The military methods have been primarily aimed at stabilizing the existing society by gaining public support through increased local security in order to establish a standing form of representative government at the national, provincial, and community level. Much effort has been expended by the United States and its Coalition partners to win the hearts and minds of the local population in an effort to marginalize the insurgency. This paper will focus on a civil means of assisting the Combatant Commander with national stability beginning at the grass roots and community level. Specifically, it will examine the viability of a U.S. civilian mentorship program designed to educate Afghan civilians from influential community level occupations on similar U.S. occupational methods and customs. The desired end state revolves around the reintegration of the Afghan participants back into their communal society determined to positively influence the functional construct and operation of their local governments thereby stabilizing the Afghan society as a whole.