Jim Gant

In October 2009,[12] Gant wrote an influential paper titled One Tribe at a Time: A Strategy for Success in Afghanistan.[13] Gant first published the paper on the website of Stephen Pressfield, a historical fiction novelist who is popular in military circles.[14] The paper reached a wider audience after its publication on the Small Wars Journal website.[14] In One Tribe at a Time, Gant argued that the United States should leverage the Pashtun tribal system in Afghanistan by creating "Tribal Engagement Teams" that would embed at the village level and work with locals to build security.[15][5]

General David Petraeus called the paper "very impressive," and General Stanley McChrystal distributed it to all commanders in Afghanistan.[5] The paper received some criticism for promoting "nativist mythologies"[16] but, according to Paula Broadwell, it helped inspire Petraeus to create the Afghan Local Police.[3] Admiral Eric T. Olson, the commander of United States Special Operations Command, supported Gant's concept as well, and in November 2009 Lieutenant General John Mulholland offered Gant an opportunity to redeploy to Afghanistan to implement his ideas.[1]

Gant returned to Afghanistan in June 2010,[17] and was stationed in the village of Mangwal where he had served in 2003.[8] In September 2010, reporter Ann Scott Tyson took a leave of absence from The Washington Post and went to Kunar to live with Gant for nine months, in violation of military regulations.[18]

Gant and his unit built relationships with the tribes by wearing traditional Afghan clothing instead of uniforms and learning Pashto.[8] Gant himself carried Islamic prayer beads, rode on horseback, and had Pashto words tattooed on his wrists.[19] He remained in Kunar for 22 months[18] and achieved significant operational success. General Petraeus called him "the perfect counterinsurgent" and compared him favorably to T. E. Lawrence, calling him "Lawrence of Afghanistan."[20] Petraeus made Mangwal a "showcase" for his counterinsurgency strategy, and congressional delegations such as those of Lindsey Graham and John McCain visited the village.[21] By the middle of 2011, Gant had recruited 1,300 Afghan Local Police.[18] At the same time, Gant was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.[4] He allegedly drank alcohol during the deployment, which is prohibited by Army regulations, and "self-medicated" with pain medication.[8]

In early 2012, as Gant was in the process of moving from Mangwal to the nearby village of Chowkay, he came in contact with First Lieutenant Thomas Roberts, a West Point graduate[21] who had recently arrived to Kunar.[8] Roberts reported to his chain of command that Gant was engaging in "immoral and illegal activities and actions".[8] After the subsequent investigation Gant was relieved of command, demoted to the rank of captain, and given an official reprimand by Lieutenant General Mulholland.[8] He retired from the military soon afterwards.[18]

Gant's actions led him to be compared to Colonel Kurtz from the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.[13] During his career he served for over 50 months in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and was wounded seven times.[8] After the death of Osama bin Laden, U.S. forces found a copy of One Tribe at a Time in bin Laden's compound,[13] along with a document in which bin Laden mentioned Gant by name and said that he "needed to be removed from the battlefield".[22] Gant has been credited with inspiring the Village Stability Operations (VSO) strategy which was widely employed by special operations forces in Afghanistan.[23][24]