The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London Wednesday urged the United States and its military allies to add a "psychological component" to their operations in conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The renowned institute, presenting its annual report The Military Balance 2007, said it was no longer sufficient to respond to "complex warfare missions" by deploying more soldiers.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London Wednesday urged the United States and its military allies to add a "psychological component" to their operations in conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The renowned institute, presenting its annual report The Military Balance 2007, said it was no longer sufficient to respond to "complex warfare missions" by deploying more soldiers.
"Our judgement is that military planning procedures need to incorporate so-called 'influence activities' as an integral part of pre-deployment preparation for complex warfare missions."
"Without this deeper perception of the mission environment, operations will lack the necessary ingredient for long-term success," said IISS Director-General John Chipman, presenting the report.
Taking the example of recent US troop reinforcement in Iraq, the report said: "Simply flooding one area of Iraq, in this case parts of of Baghdad, with troops, neglects the subtler aspects of counter- insurgency doctrine," said Chipman.
The proportion of "one US soldier for every 184 Baghdadis" was well below recommendations contained in the new US Army and Marines field manual on counter-insurgency, he added.
For a surge of troops to be sustainable it needed to be married to a follow-up process of reconstituting sustainable security, building an administrative capacity and establishing the rule of law.
The report criticized the Iraqi government of Nuri al-Maliki as "weak" and said it "lacked the political will" to follow up the fight against insurgents with stabilizing measures.
The Iraqi leader would have to "sweep away large numbers of ineffective cabinet ministers" to strengthen his position. But he lacked the political power for such a bold move, the report said.
In Afghanistan, the frequent announcements by NATO forces of how many Taliban fighters had been killed could be counter-productive, warned Chipman.
For the Taliban, "death is a form of victory," he said, adding that such announcements were good for the "home audience" but were likely to drive more willing recruits to the cause.
"Defining success for the international effort in Afghanistan is hard, but may loosely be construed as being the creation of an environment which is stable enough to allow the Afghan government to have control of its own security and development," said the IISS.
With more troop deployments, as promised by NATO members, there could a "real chance" of achieving this goal.
