Apparently it was amateur hour in the leaflet production
campaign in Afghanistan. The http://bit.ly/2gYdTkw) was dropped in
Afghanistan in early September 2017 broke some of the most basic rules by quoting the Quran. (see: http://nyti.ms/2eSdknQ, which is also a photo source). 
IN addition to the suicide bomber noted above, additional reaction is shown in the picture at left (photo
source: http://nyti.ms/2eSdknQ). At issue
was the use of words from the Quran in a leaflet. Frankly, you would have to be
living in a cave for the last 16 years if you didn’t realize that the Islamic
faith takes their Holy Book and their Prophet far more seriously than other
religions.
The Charlie Hebdo killings in 2015 (see for example: http://nbcnews.to/2xgTmxG) and the 2012
incident where US troops burned the Koran (see: http://bit.ly/2wlsGb4)
are only two of the incidents that serve as very good bad examples and should have put everyone on notice of what to expect.
Know your audience is the first rule of PSYOP/MISO and of
course any influence operation. The blatant ignorance displayed by the leaflet creators
and those in the approval chain should be considered MISO malpractice.
The FindLaw Legal dictionary defines malpractice as: “negligence,
misconduct, lack of ordinary skill, or a breach of duty in the performance of a
professional service (as in medicine) resulting in injury or loss” (See: http://dictionary.findlaw.com/definition/malpractice.html)
If these leaflets were created by an outside contractor,
this type of malpractice should be considered a material breach of their
contract. The contract should be terminated
immediately and consideration should be given to litigation for damages to the
Coalition campaign and reputation.
As for the notion of yet more cultural training – it strikes
me as playing training whack a mole. When military personnel deploy they go
through a pre-deployment training and certification. Current deployments to
Iraq and Afghanistan must have training on Islamic traditions and protocol to
include role-playing situations designed to illustrate the right and wrong ways
to work in theater.
There is simply no excuse for this type of ineptitude,
especially in our longest running AO!
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