Mission Accomplished?
Over the last month, U.S. forces have been steadily drawing down in Haiti. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which arrived three days after the earthquake, left the scene February 1; the 2,300 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit were released from Joint Task Force-Haiti on February 7; Air National Guard units began scaling back their support for Operation Unified Response in late February; and elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, which had been operating throughout Port-au-Prince, began to return home in recent days.
As the demand for immediate emergency relief subsided and international organizations and NGOs began to establish a foothold in Port-au-Prince, U.S. commanders in Haiti signaled an eagerness to “right-size” the force in the country for the evolving mission — swapping infantrymen for logisticians and engineers. According to the memorandum of understanding signed by U.S. and UN officials in the first weeks after the quake, American forces in Haiti were only ever expected to facilitate the distribution of relief materials, assess and repair critical infrastructure, and — if requested by MINUSTAH or the Haitian government — provide security assistance. In recent days, Gen. Douglas Fraser, U.S. SOUTHCOM commander, announced that “our mission is largely accomplished.”
There’s little doubt that the presence of U.S. troops in Haiti served as an important check on potential violence and unrest — keeping relative order at aid distribution points and deterring criminal activity. It’s not surprising, then, that residents of Port-au-Prince are reporting uneasiness about the U.S. troops’ departure, doubtful that the nearly 10,000-strong MINUSTAH peacekeeping force can adequately maintain order in the devastated city. The effectiveness of the Haitian National Police is also in doubt; as USIP’s Bob Perito noted last month, “there wasn’t much law enforcement to begin with, and now there’s even less.”
U.S. forces’ mission in Haiti may indeed be drawing to a close, but in the months ahead it will be important for the United States to recognize that the continuing feebleness of the Haitian government, coupled with the withdrawal of U.S. troops, will create a more permissive security environment in the country — one that could be exploited by drug traffickers and gangs. It’s not too soon, therefore, for the United States to start thinking about what long-term role it can play in enabling Haiti to more effectively take responsibility for its security. A $7.9 billion U.S. pledge, via the State Department’s Merida Initiative, to improving the Haitian Coast Guard is an encouraging step; given the continuing role of MINUSTAH — which, despite the blows the force received in the earthquake, has the potential to be a productive one — maritime drug interdiction may be the area in which there is the greatest potential for U.S.-Haitian security partnership.
Tim Sullivan is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
