Firstly, to asses in a proper way the relevance of the modern warfare
we have to explain what modern warfare is. This concept is used to
explain the progress of the army, its technologies, tactics, ways of
organization and threats that this group has to face with. Usually it
is assumed that the modern warfare appeared after World War Two. And
it is characterized because the victory is not expected from the
clash of two armies. Though facing and suppressing the threat of
“subversive groups”, such as guerrillas or terrorist groups. A
good example of this is the Algerian War during the 50s, when the
French Army, of 300,000 soldiers, outnumbered the independent
irregular army of an estimated 30,000 members. (Trinquier. 2006: 5)
Since the World War Two the majority of the conflicts the countries
had to face with were asymmetric, as they were fighting enemies with
less operative capacities and strength. These conflicts usually were
intra-estates and, often, in the European colonies and post-colonial
states.
The
challenge these conflicts represent are that the conventional army is
not going to be able to fight face-to-face with this elements. As
this would supposes the annihilation of the enemy. Thus, the numeric
advantage of the army is reduced. Also, as the enemies are hidden
among the population, the army cannot lunch and attack because of the
civil casualties this may represent. With this, the armed forces have
to engage in a fight with an “invisible” enemy which is attacking
to the state in an unconventional way (bombs, ambushes, high jacking,
etc.). Always with somehow, support of the population, as they need
to be hidden, and they need members to participate in these
operations.
Because of all the characteristics mentioned above. The army needs a
re-configuration or re-adaptation in order to deal with this problem.
One
of the adaptations has been the training of small special forces.
These are small groups of highly skilled soldiers, well-armed, that
are trained to adapt themselves to a lot of different situations and
to infiltrate into the networks of this subversive organizations. And
later, dismantle them. Sometimes, the special forces are used in
conjunction with the air force, targeting objectives that are later
bombed by the aircrafts.
Therefore, there is no sense to have big units to fight a guerrilla
when you cannot deploy them. Small units are more maneuverable,
adaptable. And the possibilities to cause collateral damages are
minimized. Also, the cost of the soldiers deployment are reduced.
The previous characteristics are related to the Army. But, the other
branches of the armed forces have also suffered and adaptation to
counter terrorism and counter subversive operations. As the air
force, that gives to the state an important advantage as it can be
used in multiple operations and reduces the risk of casualties in a
greater way. Although it is less effective only used by its owns, and
has to be used in collaboration with the navy or the army(targeting
objectives or taking control of them)
One utility of the air force is the use of drones for vigilance and
bombing tasks. These are remote-controlled small planes that can
carry missiles, are less noisy than the other planes and are
non-tripulated, reducing the risks of the missions.
There
is also an adaptation of the navy, as the sea represents a 70% of the
earth’s surface. This branch participates with the transport of
troops, materials and air crafts. And with new capacities developed
years ago like lunching cruise missiles. Like the Tomahawk missiles
lunched from ships of the United States and United Kingdom that
weakened the Taliban defenses.
Related with these three branches we have a key player that are the
Intelligence Services. That participate in this asymmetric fight
gathering information, making recommendations and even infiltrating
into the spied organizations.
But, in modern warfare, with military, there is not only technology
and organization improvements. There is also a new concept known as
“gain the hearts and minds” that it has the effect in the
participation of the army in reconstruction and social improvements
in the areas where they are deployed.
After
the terrorist attacks of the 11th
of September 2001, the United States saw the terrorism as a real
security threat and a big issue for the national security, as the
president George W. Bush stated in his Address to the Nation in
January 2002 (pg 170 Before and After). Therefore started a campaign
to pursue the objective of eliminate all the terrorist groups,
starting with the authors of the 9/11 attacks. For this task the
United State will use all the improvements and tactics mentioned
above, while also deploying occupation troops, as this War on Terror
has multiple faces, as we will see below.
The
War on Terror began on the 7th
of October 2001 (when the invasion of Afghanistan started). This
invasion started with the aim of capturing Osama Bin Laden, who was
the mind behind the attacks on the United States, and suppressing the
terrorist network al-Qaeda, based in multiple countries and regions
on the globe. The campaign started in Afghanistan because it was
believed that the fundamentalist regime that have been governing this
country since 1996, the Taliban, have been helping this terrorist
group with training camps, and even, Bin Laden could be there. With
combined actions of the intelligence services and air strikes of
aircrafts departing from carrier ships and Tomahawk missiles launched
from ships in the Indian Ocean. And later with the deployment of
United States and United Kingdom special forces supporting the
Northern Alliance (an opposed group of the Taliban) the Taliban
quickly started to lose the control of great parts of the country.
Starting from the North with Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul the 13th
of November 2001 (AGENCIA, 2001). During the first part of the war,
the modern warfare demonstrated to be so effective against the
Taliban (Cox et al. 2008: 413), who mostly practiced a guerrilla
fighting. Although the international coalition and the Northern
Alliance did not find much opposition of the Taliban fighters, except
for some battles. When the coalition controlled the greater part of
the country, the Taliban started a war of guerrilla, with small
attacks and an intense use of bombs and mines. These actions caused
mostly of the victims (civilians and military of the conflict).
Attacking sensitive buildings such as hospitals, schools, police
offices, army headquarters, markets, etc. Rapidly new insurgent
groups appeared, and the coalition started to lose the control of the
situation and showed itself as unable to deal with it. The answer of
the international coalition was to deploy more soldiers (100,000
international soldiers in 2010 (Reuters, 2010)). And an operation for
reconstruction of the country, in order to avoid the impoverishment
of the citizens, and therefore the enrollment into the insurgency
lines. With this massive deployment of troops, the Taliban and other
insurgent groups moved they operation areas to the borders of the
country, specially the border shared with Pakistan (a suspicious
player, as some intelligence services assume Pakistan is helping the
Taliban, or at least, it tolerates their presence in the region)
(Densenlow, 2008). From these borders they have been launching
several attacks in almost all the provinces of the Afghan territory.
But, the conjunction of allied ground attacks with air strikes, and,
with more pressure in the Pakistan's border (Burke, 2009) have put
more pressure on the insurgency, with the consequent decrease in the
number of casualties after year going up. Even, there are recent
rumors of a letter received by Obama from the Mullah Omar (Ryan, et
al. 2012) (former “president” of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan, the Taliban government) asking for negotiations.
Although, according to Reuters, the US government is studying the
letter and the real intentions of the Taliban to decide further
movements. However, this can be considered a sign that, in the
military side, with the deployment of a big number of troops (Reuters
considers the final number in 130,000) linked with a big pressure of
special forces on the ground and constant air strikes and in the
socio-economic side, the reconstruction and education plans (to
gain the hearts and minds) have reduced the number of volunteers that
want to join the Taliban, and the Taliban resources cut from the
opium. All these factors have added great pressure to the Taliban and
the continuity of their actions. But, still a long way to the total
pacification of the country.
The
Iraq War, also belonged to what George W. Bush called “Global War
on Terror” as it was thought that this country supported and held
training camps of al-Qaeda, sponsored terrorism in Palestine against
Israel and were trying to get Weapons of Mass Destruction (although,
at the moment, anything can have been proved as true). At the
beginning of the campaign inside the action against “the axis of
evil” (twentieth of March 2003) the the coalition faced little
resistance. (Cox et al. 2008: 415) But, after the fall of Saddam's
Government the occupation troops faced a large number of casualties
due to the insurgency against the Westerners. This is because the
vacuum of power left by the Government and the Ba'ath Party was
filled by Islamic groups and al-Qaeda that wanted to extend the
terrorist actions from Afghanistan to Iraq. This increase of the
violence obligated the international coalition to deploy more troops
on the ground not only to secure the vital points of the country
(like the oil pipelines), but also to start attack operations against
the insurgency. Several urban battles were held in order to regain
some districts out of control because of the numerous insurgency
attacks, the most fierce battles occurred in Basra, Sadr City and
Baghdad during the Spring of 2008 against shia militias supported by
Iran (in a moment with increasing tensions of the international
community with this country because of the nuclear program that was
being carried on). After securing the normalization of the political
process like presidential elections and the role of the political
parties, and also the oil production (pillar of the economy) and the
training of the country's security forces. The pacification seems to
be a reality, and so the withdrawal of the coalition troops from the
country. (Steele, 2011) Linked to this process of pacification of the
country there is also being produced a swift in foreign policy of
Iraq towards good relations with Iran.
One
of the biggest problems faced in Iraq and Afghanistan was not in the
military side (as the armies present there enjoy the most
technological advanced armaments in the world, and the enemies were
armed mostly with old soviet arms), the problem lies in the relation
with the native population. Religious differences boosted by the
conflicts have provoked a lot of scandals and awful actions, linked
with some miss targeting military actions that made civil casualties
have fueled the hate to the occupation troops, and therefore boosted
the insurgency movements. The most significant actions with bigger
repercussion are the Mohammed Caricatures, the Abu Ghraib prison, the
Quran burnings or the recently killing of Afghan civilians by a US
soldier (AGENCIAS, 2012). To restore the credibility of the allies
there is a need to show that they are doing their duties to bring
them security. Also by strengthening the local government and
building infrastructures to make the government action operative.
Losing the support of the population can become a great mistake, as
it would strength the insurgency. As it happened to the Soviets with
the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan during the invasion of this
country. (Arreguín-Toft, 2005:19)
The subcontinent of South America was other target of the United
State Global War on Terror. This region has been characterized by
insurgent movements spread in many different countries. Some
(supported by the United States and the Soviet Union) ended at the
end of the Cold War; but others remain fighting against the
governments. Some, as they do not have the financial support of the
previously mentioned superpowers entered into the drugs trafficking
business. Which main regional destination is the United States. Many
of these insurgent groups are considered by the United States, the
European Union and some other countries as terrorist groups. Among
these countries in troubles, the most affected is Colombia.
Since
the middle of the 20th
Century Colombia lived a situation of great insecurity in some areas
of the North-East, East and West, as well as some areas of the Center
of the country. This is caused by some guerrilla groups that have
threatened the correctly performance of the government, its
institutions and the economic life of the country (for example, the
tourism is lower than the surrounding countries). The country
suffers, and suffered, the insurgency of some groups like the M19
(Movimiento 19 de abril, Movement 19th
of April), autodefensas unidas de Colombia (paramilitary groups),
FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia) and FNL (Frente de Liberación Nacional,
National Liberation Front); among the bigger ones. Nowadays the most
active one and the one which represents the biggest threat are the
FARC. These guerrilla is considered as a terrorist group by the
United States and the European Union. Its activity are small raids
against military groups of the Colombian Army and terrorist attacks
like bomb cars, assassinations of relevant bureaucrats, among others.
These guerrilla has an strong support among the impoverished and
social excluded peasants of the remote countryside. Places where they
were exploited by big landlords and where they could not enjoy of any
benefit granted by the government, like a proper education or health
care. At the beginning of the 21st
Century the Colombian Government was unable to fight against the
FARC, which were gaining influence in more departments of the
country. But, the international cooperation to help Colombia started.
The US Government started to give bigger funds for the “Plan
Colombia” (a plan that started in 1996 by Bill Clinton to help
Colombia fighting against the drugs trafficking by both social and
military means; all inside a bigger plan for the subcontinent). A
great part of the funds granted by the US to Colombia are for
military aspects (characteristic that has received large critics
because of the belicism and the major influence the US is seeking to
have in the region), the remaining are for social actions (percentage
increased by the George W. Bush government). These plan included new
military material, training of troops, new strategies to manage them
and opportunities for a different development (to avoid people join
the guerrilla and the drugs dealing) and help to the displaced
persons.
This
help provided by the United States was increased dramatically (from
$243million in 2001 to $402million and $621million in 2002 and 2003)
after the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the engagement of George W.
Bush with the War on Terror, seeking to fight the global terrorist,
not only al-Qaida; his Address to the Nation in January 2002. The
outcome of these actions have been positive for Colombia, as now is
able to answer to any threat anywhere over the country with soldiers
ready to be deployed in a short period of time. Also, with the help
of the intelligence services and high sophisticated technology it has
been able to target important objectives and accomplished them in a
short period of time, like the night aircraft bombing on the border
inside Ecuador (close to the Colombian border) were a high-profile
commander of the FARC was killed and a lot of important information
was obtained. (AGENCIAS, 2008).
Since that event occurred the first of March 2008 the FARC has lost a
lot of power and has suffered new major loses like the killing of the
Commander Alfonso Cano the fifth of November of 2011(Neira, 2011).
Therefore, regarding all the facts previously mentioned before about
Colombia, we can say that the modern warfare is helping the country
to fight the guerrilla, as they are able to secure most of the
country and at the same time perform attacks to vital interests of
the insurgency. Also, the military victories have allowed an economic
recovery of the country, have attracted major foreign investment and
therefore, there is greater economic progress and greater employment
opportunities, although the population below the poverty line remains
high. All of these have helped to reduce the number of persons
willing to join the guerrillas.
The
modern warfare has demonstrated to be an effective way to fight the
asymmetric conflict that represents the so called “Global War on
Terror”. But, as seen in the conflicts explained below, it needs a
massive use of troops, commandos and aircrafts, as well as use of the
intelligence services. This is because, to fight the insurgency or
terrorist groups, following the model used in the previously
mentioned wars, a big part of the army is needed to secure the
cities, villages and transport links, as well as industrial places,
in order to give an impression of security to the civilians, that
allows them to continue with their economic activities that let the
economic progress to continue, thus, gaining support from the
population, enabling the adversaries continue their operations (a
problem faced by the Soviets in Afghanistan, where they were fighting
an enemy popular among the population, and also supported by the US).
Also you need other soldiers to cut the income cash-flow of these
organizations by destroying their installations or enabling them to
continue with their “business” (enabling them to continue with
their military activities and paying to their members). And the rest
of the military is used to face the insurgency directly. But it is
not an efficient method, because of the large amount of military and
financial resources needed to deal with this type of asymmetric war.
And also the time it takes until the country reaches the victory.
Biography:
1-
Bennis, Phyllis, Before and After, US
foreign policy and the War on Terrorism. 2003.
2-
Trinquier, Roger, Modern Warfare, A
French View of Counterinsurgency. 2006.
3-
Reid, Julian, The biopolitics of the war
on terror. 2009.
4-
Cox, Michael and Stokes, Doug, US
foreign policy. 2008.
5-
Weiss, Thomas G., Crahan, Margaret E. and Goering, John, Wars
on Terrorism and Iraq. 2004.
6-
Arreguín-Toft, Ivan, How the Weak Win
Wars. 2005.
7- AGENCIA, 2001, Operación libertad durareda: Los antitalibán
preparan la conquista de Kabul tras extender su ofensiva al noroeste
afgano. El País. 10th November. Avalible at:
8- REUTERS, 2010, Los
soldados de EE.UU. En Afganistán ya superan a los de Irak. ABC,
25th
May. Avalible at:
9-
Densenlow, James, 2008, Getting Pakistan wrong. The
Guardian, 1st
October. Avalible at:
10-
Burke, Jason, 2009, Pakistan's offensive in
Waziristan will succeed or fail depending on what local tribes
decide. The Guardian, 18th
October. Avalible at:
11-
Ryan, Missy and Strobel, Warren, 2012, Amid peace bid, U.S. got
purported letter from Taliban. Reuters,
3rd
February. Avalible at:
12-
Steely, Jonathan, 2011, The Iraq war is finally over. And it marks a
complete neocon defeat. The Guardian,
23rd
October. Avalible at:
13- AGENCIAS, 2012, La
pena capital acecha al soldado de Estados Unidos que mató a 16
afganos. El País, 13th March. Avalible
at:
14- AGENCIAS, 2008, La muerte de 'Raúl Reyes' desencadena una
crisis diplomática entre Colombia, Venezuela y Ecuador. El País,
2nd March. Avalible at:
15- Neira, Armando,
2011, El Ejército colombiano abate a Alfonso Cano, líder de las
FARC. El País, 5th November. Avalible at:
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario