ROE frustrating troops in Afghanistan

The new tighten rules of engagenment, ROE, that General McChrystal has set up for the troops in Afghanistan is frustrating them to say the least. Some of the new ROE are:

• No night or surprise searches.
• Villagers have to be warned prior to searches.
• ANA or ANP must accompany U.S. units on searches.
• U.S. soldiers may not fire at the enemy unless the enemy is preparing to fire first.
• U.S. forces cannot engage the enemy if civilians are present.

The new ROE were set up in order to limit the number of civilian deaths caused by coalition forces and help win the hearts and minds of the Afghan population.

Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, the taliban and al Qaeda have killed more Afghan civilians than American or NATO troops yet apparently we still haven't won the hearts and minds of the Afghan population. Yet our commanders insist on these restrictive ROE that frustrate our troops and ultimately will lead to disaster.

You want to win the war in Afghanistan, you want to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan population, then untie the hands of our troops and let them mercilessly kill our enemy until none are left.

Check out this story fromNPR to see how our troops feel about these new ROE. Here's a little teaser.

MONTAGNE: So, in being very, very careful about shooting at what they absolutely believed to be insurgents, they ended up, in effect, losing these guys. How did that make them feel?

BOWMAN: Well, they weren't happy at all. And some of them stormed out of this command center.