At last a priority (via FPB)
The Wall Street Journal reports about a change of priorities in Afghanistan:
U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said that American and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops must make a "cultural shift" away from being a force designed for high intensity combat and instead make protecting Afghan civilians their first priority.
This could be a surprise for those not familiar with the priorities of life in an armed conflict - though the General later says that civilians have always been the priority - but it is very illustrative of a possible positive change going underneath.
According to Kaldor, commenting on traditional security theory, troops in battle first protect civilians from their own country, then troops themselves, and just after them civilians from the enemy side and enemies. Although the reality in the ground is much more complex, this differential valuation of life taught in military schools partly explains the so-called collateral damage and other atrocities of war. Thus, the intention is very welcome, yet we may be decades from some real effects.