On Fence Sitting and Operating in the Fringe

"Most people in Afghanistan operate in the gray area, the fringe of being one side or the other. They're hedging their bets. As an American it's hard for me to understand this, the choice seems pretty clear, help us and free your country or help them and take your chances. It's confusing to me and at times infuriating. However, it's not that clear to the people that we encounter. There's a saying that the Afghans have, you can't buy an Afghan's loyalty but you can rent it. Often times its dependent upon who's there at the moment, us or the Taliban. The locals will wait on the sideline and see who's winning.

Our main effort as ETTs is to ensure that the ANA provide the security required for the people to carry on a normal life. Normal is a relative term and doesn't resemble what we think it does.

This Kandak has a huge area and very little force. In military terms they call this and economy of force mission, I call it too much ground and not enough dudes. I think my description is more accurate, but it doesn't brief as well."
Afghanistan Shrugged