As a U.S. Marine Corps Infantryman, Corporal Rick Reyes deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 to destroy Al-Qaeda’s bases of operations there. On a recent trip organized by the Institute for Public Accuracy, he went back as a civilian to meet with locals and NGOs and understand better what is happening in the country currently. The following is his assessment of the situation as well as his recommendation for how the U.S. should proceed.

The most effective weapon we have in combating and suppressing Taliban extremists in Afghanistan is the very system we are currently systematically destroying, the Afghan population, the majority who is moderate and wants to live in peace. By relying on large army operations and military air power, civilian injuries and casualties have been high, and we are destroying relationships with the population on which we need to rely. Working with and supporting rural areas and with tribal leaders through Afghanistan’s national programs is the best chance we have for “winning” in Afghanistan. Using this system is the only effective way of creating a successful democracy from within and moving the country of Afghanistan forward.

On my recent trip back to Afghanistan in the week after their elections of August 20th, 2009, I was able to engage in an intensive series of meetings, interviews, briefings and site visits in the capital, Kabul. The meetings ranged from discussions with top officials to encounters with malnourished refugees, from briefings at multi-billion dollar agencies to small grassroots NGO offices. This large diversity of groups all expressed different views on how to achieve success in Afghanistan and further enable their programs. I met with representatives from the United Nations Development Programme, humanitarian aid organization Parsa, United Nations Development Fund for Women, independent Afghan Journalists from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The World Bank, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development, Afghanistan National Independent Peace and Reconciliation Commission aka PTS Commission; former Afghan parliament member and woman’s rights advocate Malalai Joya; Hekmat Karzai, cousin of the president and director of the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, Women for Women International-Afghanistan, Equal Access women’s programming manager Mahbouba Seraj, Kabul University, an orphanage and a refugee camp.

In my meeting with the United Nations Development Programme’s Country Director, Manoj Basnyat and Head of Partnerships and Result Management Unit, Mohammad Ali Ashraf, I discovered that they’ve had a very successful disarmament program where they’ve been able to reach out to 30,000 villages and they have disarmed 28,000 of them, which was quite impressive, taking into consideration the wide spread violence.

Women for Women International-Afghanistan is undergoing a pilot program that has also proved to be very successful. The organization’s Deputy Country Director spoke very passionately about the program and explained that what they are doing is getting large groups of men into classroom settings and teaching these men about women's rights. The pilot proved to be successful and they are currently working with their second group of men. The first group is taking the message back to their villages and relating their teachings to village members. Today they are honoring and enforcing women’s rights. Another success story thought to be unachievable.

I was also able to meet with The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development’s Minister, Mohammad Ehsan Zia. What they do differently from all other rebuilding efforts is that they ask the participating villages for a 10% stake in all projects. This 10% can be paid through funds or labor. Therefore, the village has vested interest in the reconstruction projects and allows no one, not even the Taliban, to interfere with them. These projects continue to stand strong today.

Then I met with Chris Eaton, the Chief Executive Officer to Agha Khan, an NGO who has also been very successful in his humanitarian aid program. This NGO has been in Afghanistan for five years. The first year, when they chose to use private security to protect their group, they were attacked. They quickly figured out the best form of security is no security at all. Once they took a more personal approach with the villagers and did away with ALL security, they immediately began having better success and have not been attacked or threatened in the last four years.

On the final day of my stay, I met with Mohamed Akram, the President of National Peace and Reconciliation or PTS Commission. They exist to reach out to village elders to make contact with known Taliban fighters, and convince them to lay down their weapons and join the peace process. I also met with a former Taliban leader who was one of 29 black-listed before he made contact with the PTS Commission. He is now working for the organization and is part of the peace process. They've been able to bring 9,000 Taliban through their program, with 13,000 more going through right now. The Taliban members agree to leave the Taliban, undergo a process of picture-taking, document-signing and finger-printing. Once complete, they are integrated back into society, are offered resources and employment opportunities.

The common thread I found between all these programs is that they utilize the tribal systems already in place to reach out to elders and tribal leaders and include them in the process to identify and implement solutions. The programs that they have implemented have proven very successful, all without any support or protection from US or NATO forces. One successful model is the National Solidarity Program, which is a national program coordinated by the Ministry of Rural Development, but through which development priorities are identified by local shuras, or community consultation processes, which must include women in the same or separate shuras. Community block grants of up to $60,000 are provided to local companies or organizations who implement the project selected locally by the community. In this way, members of the community know what to expect, reducing the opportunity for corruption or mismanagement.

When the Taliban’s governance of Afghanistan collapsed in 2001, the UN led a very successful peace-keeping operation of aid and security. It is my firm opinion that any security and policing that is needed has to be done by the UN initially and then Afghan police if it is going to have any hope of being successful, as the US is currently seen by the majority of the country as a colonizing force. There should be a monitoring plan, whereby the UN provides oversight of the security forces for a ten year time-frame, until the state institutions can develop checks and balances of power. The last thing we would want to do is provide weapons and uniforms to another system that can become oppressive without international intervention until the country stabilizes.

Every day, tribal elders continue to convince more Taliban members to lay down their weapons and go to the PTS Commission, and they’ve been very successful this far. These villager elders are also convincing the young men of their tribes not to join the Taliban. With very little infrastructure, virtually zero industry in the country, and U.S. military presence, it is a constant challenge.

It is the village elders who are working with the UN to disarm fighters. It’s the village elders who are enforcing women's rights with Women for Women international, and it’s the village elders who are helping the Afghanistan rebuilding program to be successful. It will be the village elders who will suppress and eventually eliminate the Taliban and not allow safe havens for Al Qaeda because they know it’s what their country needs. They will be the ones to secure and rebuild. Unfortunately, it is our occupation of the country that is compromising the success of these programs, directly and indirectly. The ongoing U.S. military operations, including bombings, are what motivate people to take up arms and join the Taliban.

Our current foreign policy is the problem, and our troops will be targeted regardless of the task they are intending to achieve, even if that task consists of peace or rebuilding. We need to think outside the box, we need to look at this war differently and not from a viewpoint clouded by fear of "terrorists." America is suffering from an acute case of PTSD and it’s time we cure ourselves and begin to have some solidarity with the people of Afghanistan. We are at a stale-mate with no chance of a military success. We need to withdraw on our own terms rather than running in complete defeat as the Soviets did. But we can do something that they failed to do when they left. We can support Afghans in ways that will help Afghanistan become more stable, both for their own sake, and for our own. - Cpl Rick Reyes, USMC

The views expressed by individual members do not necessarily reflect the position of Iraq Veterans Against the War.