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KABUL, Afghanistan – Doctrine, optimization, capability, trust – these words echoed in the speaker’s hall in Camp Julien Jan. 11-13, as a working group meeting took place.
The voices were not the typical deep voices of many military meetings. Instead, they were mostly women’s voices belonging to leadership of Female Engagement Teams in Afghanistan, as they discussed the formalization and way-ahead for the teams, whose purpose is to build trust and confidence with the women and families in Afghanistan.
The teams are not a new concept to Afghanistan. They have existed in one form or another for more than nine years in this country. The purpose of the meeting was to develop unified, official doctrine, team composition, training requirements and mission statement for the FETs.
The FETs are giving a name to what they are doing and stating how the teams are employed, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Teresa Wolfgang, civil affairs officer, Regional Command – East.
A FET has a variety of missions it will perform, ranging from conducting female searches to teaching families business practices like keeping honey bees.
“There are many ways we can employ FETs,” said Wolfgang. “We [FETs] will talk with the local population to gain trust and find out what’s going on in the village. We try to work by, with and through the GIRoA [Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan]. We don’t make promises or go in without a purpose.”
Since the root of FETs is cultural sensitivity, the various cultural needs of provinces dictate the wide range of missions, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Rosen, a facilitator at the working group meeting. “They are tailored and are modular according to the needs of the battle-space owner,” said Wolfgang. “The teams may look different according to what province they are in.”
The FETs were being run independently, but U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander, International Security Assistance Force, recently called for an overall FET program, which will set standards, requirements, reporting and a way ahead.
“This is core to counterinsurgency operations,” said Rosen. “We need to build this capability.”
Building a core operational doctrine and learning about other FET’s capabilities occurred throughout the three-day meeting.
Attendees shared ideas, opinions and best practices of each regional command as each topic of discussion was covered.
“Hearing what other regional commands are doing compared to what we are doing in RC -East is a very valuable tool for us,” said Wolfgang of her experience at the meeting. “We really want to make sure we are doing this correctly.”
One consensus of a correct practice between the FETs is not bypassing the men in the village and working only with the women.
It’s important to include the men so they do not feel circumvented and resent the FET’s efforts. People could refer to a FET as a “family engagement team,” because of their involvement with the entire family, explained Wolfgang.
Other subjects of the meeting included legal considerations, the need for flexibility for FET implementation, manning and training requirements, and key issues that should be resolved to ensure a successful, unified program.
In a country that is primarily run by men, skeptics have questioned the value of gender engagement and its contribution to the fight. Dr. Lisare Brooks, social scientist in the Human Terrain Analyst Team Division in Bagram, argued their importance to the success of Afghanistan.
“The greatest value of the FET is providing the other 50-percent perspective,” said Brooks in reference to the Afghan women’s perspective. “When we miss that 50-percent perspective, no matter who we are talking to, we are missing 50 percent of the solution.”
The outcome of the working group meeting will result in an official “way ahead” for FETs, which will echo their voices beyond the speaker’s hall and, ideally, resonate throughout Afghanistan. It will give Afghan women a continuing say in their country’s future.
| Date Taken: | 01.14.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 01.15.2011 04:25 |
| Story ID: | 63595 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 174 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, FETs Engage in Working Group, Give Afghan Women a Voice for Transition, by SSgt Stacey Haga, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
