Good Times, Bad Times
Keerthana Nimmagadda interviews the Vice-Chairperson of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), Jaivignesh Jayakumar, on the future of the committee and its measures.
Reporter: How do you think the count of civilian causalities could be brought down?
Jaivignesh Jayakumar: It is fairly simple. Just like with prevention of mistakes, it begins with a methodical approach to the execution of an operation. This involves a set of comprehensive precursors that involve surveillance and reconnaissance to be conducted in advance, before the commencement of any operation in a civilian region. The operation should also be sufficiently drafted to include post-operational aid in the region, to assist in the case of collateral damage. However, no matter the amount of precaution taken, it is close to impossible to completely avoid civilian casualties, especially in the case of time-critical targets and operations.
Reporter: What is the future of the political situation in Iraq, especially with regards to the continuous power-shift between the major sects of the community - the Sunnis and the Shi'as?
Jaivignesh Jayakumar: The interesting development regarding the future of the political situation in Iraq revolves around the referendum held in the Kurdish-occupied regions of Iraq. Even though there was an overwhelming majority for the independence of the Kurds, the government of Iraq went ahead to deny its claim. Again, it is a delicate balance between securing their territorial sovereignty and granting the right of self-determination of the people. The recent updates that were received by the committee go on to establish a multitude of theories regarding the question of Kurdistan.
Reporter: Do you think efforts to rehabilitate the conflict-struck areas have been carried out to the fullest? Are there any particular hindrances to achieve the same?
Jaivignesh Jayakumar: Rehabilitation is one of the key aspects that are often neglected after the conduction of operations in a region of conflict. This is also a part of what the CJTF-OIR deals within Phase IV of the operation. Even though efforts had been taken to rehabilitate the conflict-struck areas, the implementation of those efforts has not always been successful. This is largely attributed to the diversity of actors present in the region and the conflicting operations being conducted in concurrence. To add to this volatile mix, there is also the presence of violent non-state actors which pose an asymmetric threat to the conductance of any operation of stabilisation.
Reporter: Given the drastic differences between the geopolitical interests of various members, do you think members of the coalition will act in ways that will benefit their own nations, but contradict the visions of other countries? How do you think the coalition will react to this?
Jaivignesh Jayakumar: It is pretty obvious that members of the coalition have a vested interest in the outcome of the operations conducted by the coalition. Solidarity is not always black or white. However, the one reason that unites them together has always been their mutual hatred for the ideologies propagated by the ISIS, and a mutual desire to end the threat that they pose in the region. This is mostly because of the fact that if terrorist organisations are not curbed in the region of their emergence, they often go above and beyond their regional borders to try and destabilise the rest of the world. In spite of this, we often see commanders in the committee try to contradict the visions of the other countries present here – to the extent of destabilising their regions. However, we hope that they could gather some amount of consensus in light of the recent updates.
