The title of the article is a bit misleading. Since US forces are prohibited by the Philippines Constitution from engaging in combat missions against domestic forces, the counterinsurgency silver bullet still eludes the architects of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Nonetheless, the article does an excellent job highlighting that aid and relief efforts can supplement a strategy to win the hearts and minds of civilians in certain circumstances.

First, Colonel James Linder is coordinating American humanitarian assistance on the island of Jolo, where the threat is limited and decreasing for a variety of reasons. Whereas Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) numbers swelled to an estimated 4,000 immediately after Libya brokered multi-million dollar ransom payments for the release of over a dozen western hostages in the early 2000s, security officials now report that less than 200 ASG militants operate on Jolo and are supplemented by perhaps as many as two dozen Jemaah Islamiya (JI) militants seeking refuge from Indonesian (Country Profiles) security forces. Second, the Philippine local and federal security forces have established a secure perimeter, allowing American medical and engineering corps personnel to deliver humanitarian assistance in relative safety. In short, the threat is smaller while the security is more than adequately provided by local forces, thereby freeing US forces to deliver services without risking the bad press associated with collateral damage of counterinsurgency operations.