- NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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One Reason You Shouldn't Go to Afghanistan With a Beard
Your facial hair says something about you in Afghanistan -- especially if you're a foreign soldier.
BY ANTHONY BUBALO, SUSANNE SCHMEIDL | NOVEMBER 3, 2009
Few images epitomize Western fears of terrorism since the September 11 attacks better than that of the long-bearded jihadist, such as Osama bin Laden himself. Ironically, many Afghans have come to share the West's pogonophobia. But Afghans don't just fear the bearded Taliban. They also fear bearded Western special operations forces.
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The wearing of beards by U.S. and allied special operations forces dates back to the invasion in 2001, when small teams of troops worked with Northern Alliance forces to overthrow the Taliban. The Western men grew beards in part to blend in on arduous and isolated missions in rural parts of Afghanistan, where long beards are still typically the norm and were the law under Taliban rule.
Beards remain, by and large, the distinctive hallmark of special operations forces in Afghanistan. They allow Afghans to distinguish regular U.S. and allied military units from special operations forces, the highly trained teams like the Green Berets and Navy SEALs. But for most Afghans, these beards now carry a negative connotation.
In Kandahar province's Zhari district, elders refer to the "bearded Americans," who they say behave very badly, and the "shaven Americans," who aren't so bad. Likewise, in Uruzgan province, locals have complained about "bearded Americans" using foul language and manhandling respected community elders and government officials.
Of course, not all members of special operations forces -- U.S. or allied -- wear beards, and not all regular troops are cleanshaven. Moreover, special operations soldiers tend not to be Rambo-types; they are often unassuming, if quietly confident, men, chosen as much for their mental as their physical aptitude.
But (often bearded) special operations forces are responsible for the most dangerous and controversial missions. Special operations forces, not regular troops, for instance, capture and kill key al Qaeda and Taliban figures. Apart from the civilian casualties these operations sometimes cause, they also bring these soldiers into close contact with Afghan society at places and times where it is most vulnerable and sensitive. Special operations forces, for example, perform late-night raids of Afghan homes, a deeply humiliating and dishonorable event in the local culture -- in particular, the searching of women's quarters.
Scott Nelson/Getty Images
Anthony Bubalo is the program director for West Asia at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. Susanne Schmeidl is the co-founder of the Liaison Office, an Afghan nongovernmental organization that since 2003 has worked with tribes in southeast and southern Afghanistan on governance, stability, and security.
A bit of confusion of Special Forces and Special Ops Forces
The authors have made a very common mistake -- Special Forces is not synonymous with Special Operations Forces. Special Operations Forces, or SOF, include Rangers (Army), SEALs (Navy), Special Forces(Army), Civil Affairs (Army), Psychological Operations (Army) and Special Tactics Squadrons (USAF). A new appendage to SOF, but not a niche-holder like the others, is MARSOC (USMC). Also included is the Joint Special Operations Command, which is highly classified, but responsible for much of what the authors talk about in the negative. Special Orces (SF) conducts primarliry Unconventional Warfare (UW). No one else conducts UW and is geared toward the social side of warfare. Direct Action (DA) is what the authors discuss, and is what JSOC specializes in and conducts almost exclusively. The conflict between the UW and DA communities within SOF is at the heart of the article, but it is not directly stated.
The SF guys who were there in 2001 grew beards not just to blend in ( many could not hope to "blend in" even with the biggest beards), but because it was socially and culturally the norm. Manly men wore beards. Those who were wise and in charge wore beards. Any other image was socially and morally questionable to the Pashtun and other groups. The others (such as SEALs and JSOC guys) who grow the beards are not doing it for those reasons. I'm not completely sure why they grow beards because it does not enhance their mission effectiveness in any way and it creates confusion and distrust, just as the articles describes. It is what creates the conditions and effects which spawn articles such as this. And the SF guys -- the UW experts and true unconventional warriors -- who get caught up in the wake and political backlash of the dynamic the authors describe.
Hilarious article. Thanks FP , for publishing it. Those horrible insensitive contractors! One wonders what the elders in Kandahar would make of a visit from ZZ Top.
bearded special or whatever forces
the notion that to show up unbearded amongst pashtuns 'was socially and morally questionable' to them is far from the truth. in years of meeting and working with pashtun tribal elders and communities in afghanistan i never was rejected because i did not wear a beard. even most of the taleban - officials and simple fighters - i met in 2000 and 2001 refrained from asking whether i did not grow one - and when such cases occured they mainly were made half-jokingly. but my general expression is that pashtuns and other afghans usually judge based on the behaviour of their guests not on their facial hair. probably, speaking pashto also helps. best from kabul
What the SF does really well is what is called FID (Foriegn Internal Defense) that is there forte. They train locals, set up camps, do cultural exchanges, MEDCAPs, etc..all part of UW.
DA falls under Direct Action-Raids, Ambush, etc...ie; Fighting in direct contact with the enemy (whoever that may be) SEALs, Rangers and other Army Units perform these actions. This is not an SF forte.
As for the SF getting "caught up in the wake and political backlash of the dynamic", nice try. SF is often just as much at fault in that area as anyone. Also, COIN involves taking out players on the other side, UW, DA, FID, etc..all play a part in COIN and one does not work without the others. The SF Community is Huge and if you think that they are without sin I suggest you look again. SF is more of a key to winning COIN conflicts than DAs due to what they are used for but DAs are needed, will continue and beards are not just for "other" reasons, most DAs are done with an Afghan face.
Let's not understate Afghan understandings about Bagram AFB
In 2003, a BBC reporter questioned the PIO at Bagram about two Afghan prisoners who had been beaten to death by guards there. The preening officer described these events as "mishaps" and seemed puzzled by the Britisher's suggestion that six months' investigation (to that point) of how these men had died was less that sincere or respectable.
That this was not just a matter between a Britisher and an American was clear. The reporter had been alerted to one of the deaths by the family of one dead man, who were farmers. They handed him a US military pathologist's report on how their relative, named Dilawar, had died. The reporter's interpreter started to say that his corpse showed that he'd been beaten savagely and the farmers interrupted to say in effect: "We have seen his body and we know how he died. We want to know what has happened to the people responsible for it."
The answer, to this time, seems to be "nothing". After the BBC report, it was suggested that the failure to prosecute this murder arose because perhaps as many as 25 guards had been involved. The preening PIO -- he was very proud of his beautiful teeth -- said it was a remarkable display of American openness and decency that the authorities had seen fit to supply the grieving family with the pathologist's report along with a corpse that, in the words of the pathologist, looked as though it had been run over by a bus. The family's view of this claim is unknown to me.
It came out some time after the BBC broadcast that Dilawar had never been guilty of any damn thing. He was just picked up by mistake in some sweep in Kabul. Authorities at Bagram worked this out some time before he was beaten to deatj, but were too scared or lazy to sign his release papers. Or to pay attention to the murderous assaults on his small and frail body. These could hardly have been a secret. Possibly as many as 25 guards had been involved.
Whether those guards were clean-shaven or bearded, I do not know. I'd bet that man, many Afghans know quite a bit about how and where Dilawar died. shaving regime of those guards
Thanks for the statement and rant but....
What doe this have to do with article except allow you to go on about a crime that has little to do with the article or even SF vs SOF?
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