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“Eighty-five percent of night operations are conducted without a shot being fired and account for less than 1 percent of civilian casualties,” he said.īut many analysts question NATO statistics, saying the records are sometimes vague, incomplete or even out of date. Military officials have said civilians rarely die in night raids, and NATO spokesman Cummings said military statistics illustrated a record of success and care. In a policy paper released last month, researchers at the Open Society Institute warned that while night raids might achieve specific goals (the killing of a certain Taliban leader, for example), they risk undermining the greater objective of winning over the Afghan population because they are so intrusive, sometimes target the wrong houses and occasionally kill civilians.
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Like any weapon or tactic, raids sometimes backfire. “Night operations are our most effective method of maintaining the pressure on the enemy while minimizing risk to innocent civilians,” Cummings said. In a video conference with reporters this summer, Allen said raids would “continue unabated.” Many officers see them continuing long after most coalition troops withdraw in 2014. John Allen, appears comfortable with the higher tempo. But while McChrystal apparently considered reducing their use, his successor boosted the operations - despite significant opposition from Karzai. David Petraeus’ turns as commanders of the NATO mission here. Jimmie Cummings wrote in an email that raids occurred throughout Afghanistan “wherever it is feasible.” They were a prominent feature of Gen. The tally from that 90-day period alone - some 1,700 raids - equaled the total number in the year before, from September 2009 to September 2010, according to figures provided to Stars and Stripes. The figure is almost double the number of raids from the previous year.Įarlier this year, officials said that during a particularly intense period of raiding, between December 2010 and February 2011, about 19 raids were carried out each night. 10, a senior NATO official told Stars and Stripes that during the last 12 months approximately 2,900 raids had been carried out, an average of about eight raids per night. Karzai has repeatedly called for their cessation, and their continued use has strained relationships with his administration and imperiled agreements over how NATO forces will operate in the country in years ahead. Yet the tall, thin leader of 3rd Platoon, Destroyer Company, 2nd Battalion of the 87th Infantry Regiment, was forced to balance a tenet of counterinsurgency - respectful treatment of civilians - against the safety of his men in one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous regions.Īfghan leaders, particularly President Hamid Karzai, have recoiled from the raids. Reinhardt later said he would hate it if someone arrived at his home that way. Foreigners had come by helicopter, after midnight, and were demanding entry. soldiers started kicking when the man inside didn’t answer.īut in this small enclave of compounds west of Kandahar City, surrounded by deep, humid fields of corn and marijuana, that nuance probably meant little. His was a “soft knock” operation, and began, at least, with a rap on the door. Reinhardt’s raid was not one of the so-called kill/capture missions often used by Special Forces troops - and despised by Afghans. It was a hard scene from a hard mission, one of the most controversial and potentially explosive kinds that American soldiers have been given during 10 years of war.