I'll just make one comment on this that Christian hits on and that certainly struck me when I read this paper shortly after it came out. The program this officer suggests means taking sides in local conflicts that have nothing to do with our own interests in the region, which would likely mire us further in Afghanistan. That is not to say that we shouldn't "engage" the "tribes" in other ways, but giving them each (or at least the ones we choose) their own personal special forces team is probably not the answer. FID was not designed to solve land disputes (unless we were training democracy-loving people screwed out of land by dirty communists of course).
Also check out Security Crank and Michael Cohen.
