General David McKiernan, commander of the 73,000 international troops in Afghanistan, told the Observer that the new troops would "allow a persistent presence that we have not had before to protect the populace".
This is the new mantra of the coalition forces in Afghanistan. "Our aim is to separate the people from the enemy," said Colonel David Haight, who leads Taskforce Spartan. The tactic is known as the Petraeus doctrine, after US general David Petraeus who pioneered it in Iraq and who now commands all US troops both there and in Afghanistan.
It is based on the idea that if local people could be made secure and insurgents kept away from them, progress in reconstruction and economic development would win and retain their loyalty, allowing the country to be stabilised and the international coalition to withdraw. "I can become someone's worst enemy in a second, but that is a short-term solution," said Haight. "My aim here is governance, security and sustainability."
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