National Versus Human Security: Australian and Canadian Military Interventions by Gregory MacCallion

Author:Gregory MacCallion [MacCallion, Gregory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Political Science, World, Military Policy, Australian & Oceanian, Security (National & International)
ISBN: 9780522875379
Google: Gg6twwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 57396777
Publisher: MUP Academic
Published: 2019-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 1: RFT-1 Model of Operations

The Australians had attempted to change the local population’s perception of the ISAF forces through the provision of ‘delivered works’.147 The problem arising from the Australians directly delivering these works was that it undermined the perceived effectiveness of the nascent GIRoA. Rapid reconstruction tasks were initially undertaken by the RTF in an effort to demonstrate to the local population the competence of the GIRoA and the benign intention of the ISAF forces.148 Owing to the war-ravaged state of Uruzgan, the Australians were heavily involved in, and responsible for, both the direct planning and the implementation of many construction projects. Increasingly, the Australians sought to transfer the responsibility, leadership and ownership of these projects to the local government and people.149 Australia was involved in a number of reconstruction projects from building the Tarin Kowt hospital, to digging wells and building schools.150 The Australians tried to promote community ownership of these projects; military engineers sought to connect the population to the projects so that the local people would want to maintain and protect them.151

Between 2006 and 2008, Australian forces were responsible for the delivery of $116 million in Overseas Development Aid.152 The commander of RTF-4, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Yeaman, justified the use of non-military actions:

What I was able to explain to the soldiers therefore was that the act of building that school or that hospital contributed to the standard of living of the local population but as importantly it was strengthening the government and weakening the Taliban. This logic became the core concept behind all of RTF4’s operations. Soldiers were not risking their lives simply for a school; each operation was loosening the grasp the Taliban had on Uruzgan.153

One of the innovative non-military approaches designed by the Australians was the creation of the Trade Training School. The school provided training in trades (such as carpentry) to local men. They were paid wages while attending and provided with tool kits upon graduation.154 The Trade Training School, based in Tarin Kowt, operated throughout the Australian deployment.155 Major Michael Scott, who had served in Afghanistan with two US Army Provincial Reconstruction Teams and the Dutch PRT, had advocated the creation of the school in Uruzgan as it was perceived as an attempt to address ‘poor levels of education and training, shortages of capable contractors, the reintegration of women into the work force and, ultimately, improvement in infrastructure and civil services’.156

The school was based on the experiences of engineers in the Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Programs in Australia.157 The school’s curriculum was focused on carpentry and providing skilled labour for the province.158 The school had evident COIN attributes, although the Australian aim of building local capacity in trades, as well as the eventual transference of the school’s management, demonstrated a concern for the local population that extended beyond the short-term goals of Australia’s missions.159

This research cannot verify the effectiveness of the Trade Training School in aiding the creation of a secure environment or in securing local Afghans (most notably, whether the school was able to attract female students).

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