16.Mar.2011
Consultant’s Brilliant Advice: ‘If You Can Get Security Right,’ Winning Afghanistan Is Easy!
Buy ‘carefully selected elites’
[Mark] Moyer, who is director of research at Orbis Operations, a consulting company specializing in stability operations, writes that “development aid should be used to co-opt local elites, not to obtain the gratitude of the entire population, and should be made contingent on reciprocal action by those elites.”
This argument has stirred up some controversy among officials at the Pentagon, where Moyer was invited to present his paper at a meeting last week. “The one concern I’ve heard expressed the most,” he says in an interview, “is that basically this is tantamount to buying off people’s support. That it’s only a very short-term solution – and you can’t really buy their loyalty.”
Moyer’s response is that carefully selected elites can do more than average citizens to help the US military improve security throughout the country, because they have the ability to influence others. What’s more, he adds, the primary focus for the military should be on providing security. “If you can get security right, development shouldn’t be that hard.”
• Read more at Christian Science Monitor | All Stories
