Nato’s Commander in Kabul

Heidi Kingstone

23 May 2007

Dan McNeill, Nato’s commander in Kabul, tells Heidi Kingstone that even a ‘hard-bitten dude’ faces a struggle to make the liberated country function as an orderly society

McNeill defines the ‘tipping point’ as the ability of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANP and ANA) to take responsibility for the security sector. Afghans often say that the Taleban is easy to defeat, which makes McNeill think that if it’s so easy, they should do it. ISAF is an interim force to buy space and time for the development of Afghan institutions. ‘In any advanced military doctrine there is a recurring theme. Counterinsurgency operations are best prosecuted by well-trained, led, equipped and disciplined indigenous forces.’ He obviously sees this as a slow process as he anticipates that the alliance will be here for perhaps another decade. ‘If we don’t defeat the insurgent’s strategy, we cannot accomplish what we set out to accomplish.’ Part of that strategy is to separate the people from the insurgents.

When I ask him what keeps him up at night it is one of the few times he loosens up enough to laugh. McNeill claims he sleeps well despite missing his wife and ‘adult beverages’. But the idea of ISAF soldiers being taken prisoner, tortured and paraded on television is his nightmare scenario. The solution for Afghanistan is not solely military, which is why the term ‘holistic’ is so comprehensively used. Military commanders, as he admits, are rarely satisfied, but he sees progress. He acknowledges that imposing a Western template on what is fundamentally a feudal country is not something that can be done successfully. So what’s achievable then? ‘This would mean accommodating Afghan culture, history, religion, social mores and perhaps exposing them to ideas that may be a tad more modern and that may lead to taking what they have from a historical context and fitting it into a more progressive mode so that the people benefit.’

Inshallah, as they say. But then, Afghanistan will need more than prayers to succeed.