I had stumbled into this topic on weak recollections from my Course of Actions research and of my admiration for David Petraeus and his command of the Surge during the 2nd Gulf War.
I watched this youtube video, which at least interviewed the women being trained, even though the audio quality was somewhat shaky. This in turn lead me to write-ups in military online journals: Raymond Kareko's article or Pottinger's explanation of their support. I did not peruse Ashley's War, but felt intrigued to look into it.
All of that ran quickly however into Sippi Azarbaijani-Moghaddam's criticism of the background assumptions, based on a more detailed analysis of the sociological and anthropological setup that she was able to provide as a university-trained anthropologist and a long-term collaborator of the aid organisations working in Afghanistan. Both in larger context contributions from 2009 and specific analyses from within the conflict (2012) she gave clearer models of the complexities of interaction that cast doubt on FET aspirations.
Her later work for the Conversation (here and here) she discussed the symbolic communication on violence that the Taliban used but that the west did not appreciate or understand either.
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