Village Stability Operations (VSO) in Afghanistan

SOF News

sof vso

@misc{sofnews-2016,
  title={Village Stability Operations (VSO) in Afghanistan},
  author={{SOF} News},
  month={August},
  year={2016},
  howpublished={\url{http://www.sof.news/afghanistan/village-stability-operations-vso/}}
}

"One positive aspect of VSO over AP3, CDI, LDI and other programs was the tying in of ‘security’ with ‘development’ and ‘governance’ for a comprehensive approach to counterinsurgency efforts."

"Village Stability Operations Platform. SOF teams conducting VSO would usually consist of 12-16 personnel."

"The SOF teams would typically have a number of ‘enablers’ to include mechanics, interpreters, SIGINT, military working dog teams, medical teams, Civil Affairs, Tactical Psyop Teams (TPTs), one or two intelligence analysts, cook, and possibly a Cultural Support Team (CST)."

"The SOF team would work with the other security and military organizations in their operational area in the conduct of Village Stability Operations. These included Coalition forces, elements of the Afghan National Police, and the Afghan National Army. Each district had a small district police force (usually 30-90 personnel) who were members of the Afghan National Police (ANP). The District Chief of Police (DCoP) would be a key player for the SOF team to interact with. Sometimes there may be an Afghan National Army (ANA) company (tolai) or battalion (kandak) nearby."

"Afghan Commandos, advised by a U.S. Special Forces team, would conduct clearing operations in the VSO operational area."

"Some SOF teams would assist the [district governors] in their travels to outlying villages and communities in the district – security, of course, being a major concern."

"In addition to the SOF team and its enablers – individuals were deployed as part of a ‘District Augmentation Team’ (DAT) at district level where VSO was established."

"The DATs were 1, 2, or 3-man teams usually on one-year long tours and were responsible for assisting in the governance and development aspects of Village Stability Operations."

"In addition to the DATs, there were some 1-3 man teams assigned at the provincial level to assist in the Village Stability Operations effort. Many times the PATs were co-located with conventional force brigades or battalion units."

"[1] The ‘bottom-up’ approach focus on the establishing security, governance, and development at the local level – village, community, and district level. The ‘top-down’ approach emphasized a strong central government, robust national institutions, development programs funded and administered from central locations, and a strong national army and police force."