By Mark Trevelyan
LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The United States and its allies must pay more attention to 'psychological warfare' as they battle insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, an influential think-tank said on Wednesday.
"Insurgents and jihadists have proved adept at conducting successful information campaigns that reach a global audience and foment violence elsewhere," the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said.
"But Western militaries have shown insufficient capability in their own attempts to carry out information and psychological operations, its annual report, "The Military Balance", said.
The IISS said it was not enough for Western armies to distribute leaflets telling the local population "we are here to help" or to put out the message that "life is getting better".
"In reality, life may not be getting better and in the eyes of the target audience the military presence could be contributing to the problem," it said.
In Afghanistan, frequent announcements by NATO forces of how many local fighters they had killed could be counter-productive because, for the Taliban, "death is a form of victory".
"Using 'body count' as a measure of effect has a very different impact within the area of operations than it does with a home audience," the report said.
"The psychological effect at home is one of military success and may generate political support. In the theatre of operations the opposite may be true, with every publicly announced kill delivering more willing recruits to the cause."
LACK OF COHERENCE
The IISS said more attention needed to be paid to finding out what really mattered to the local population, and using cultural and psychological understanding to undermine support for insurgent movements.
"Units being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are not being provided with the training to enable them to have a real, positive psychological impact on the population in their area of operations," it said.
The IISS particularly criticised a "lack of coherence" among the NATO countries operating in Afghanistan on how to wage information and psychological (PSYOPS) operations.
It said NATO was facing its sternest challenge there, as the unexpected intensity of the Taliban insurgency exposed an overall shortage of troops and inadequacy of some countries' equipment.
"The success or failure of its operation in Afghanistan is likely to shape the future of NATO," the report said.
The hope for the alliance was for a winter lull in insurgent activity that would bring some improved security and economic progress in the south, where British, Canadian, U.S. and Dutch troops are based.
"However, it is likely that the Taliban, too, see this as a possible turning point and with the majority of NATO member states unwilling to provide more troops to reinforce those already deployed, this winter is a crucial period for the alliance," the IISS said.
