Special Operations Forces Navel Gazing
In what might be the clearest tale to date about SOF narcissism over the Afghanistan high value target campaign, we see that the gaming goes nearly to the top in a recent report at the Army Times...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Concerning U.S. Defense Cuts
Following are some related but disaggregated thoughts on the upcoming U.S. Department of Defense budgetary cuts, along with some very good required reading on this subject. Gates Readies Big Cuts in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Force Protection in Operation Khanjar
A very good report from Matt Sanchez. It’s the middle of the night at the east corner guard post of Fiddler’s Green, a Marine fire base in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, along the border with...
View ArticleArmed Social Work and Rules of Engagement in Garmsir Afghanistan
Lt. Col. Christian Cabannis fully adheres to and advocates the doctrines of population-centric counterinsurgency. Christian Cabannis met a social worker before deploying to Afghanistan. Not for his own...
View ArticleDo we need a less aggressive force posture in Afghanistan?
From Stars and Stripes: Coalition troops will have to accept more risk as commanders push for a major turnaround in the Afghan war over the next 18 months, according to the commander of day-to-day...
View ArticleMass in Counterinsurgency
From The New York Times: Trucks gayly painted with hearts and doves jam up at crowded wayside bazaars. Billboards advertise cell phones and advise drivers to keep their donkeys off the road. It’s not...
View ArticleMarine Force Protection in Garmsir?
In the Afghanistan town of Darvishan, Garmsir District, an incident occurred between the townsfolk and the Marines. Anti-American violence eased Wednesday in the southern Afghanistan town of Darvishan,...
View ArticleRevisiting Kamdesh: The Sellout of COP Keating and What it Can Teach Us
Greg Jaffe at The Washington Post penned an article on the buildup to the disaster at COP Keating that got little attention. The entire history is worth study, but several quotes are lifted out (and...
View ArticleReintegrating the Taliban
From The New York Times: MIAN POSHTEH, Afghanistan — The young Taliban prisoner was led blindfolded to a sweltering military tent, seated among 17 village elders and then, eyes uncovered, faced a chief...
View ArticleWinning in Afghanistan
Ralph Peters penned a piece entitle Pick Your Tribes with the New York Post. But more on Ralph’s views in a minute. In our walkabout today, let’s first visit Bruce Rolston. Contrasts and compares,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Good Counterinsurgency, Bad Counterinsurgency and Tribes
I linked and commented on Ralph Peters’ commentary Pick Your Tribes in Winning in Afghanistan, and since then so did the Small Wars Journal blog. Indeed, there has been quite a discussion of late on...
View ArticleTaliban and Iranian Spies Do Force Protection for U.S. Troops
From ABC News: A scathing Senate report says US contractors in Afghanistan have hired warlords, “thugs,” Taliban commanders and even Iranian spies to provide security at vulnerable US military outposts...
View ArticleOffensive Posture in Counterinsurgency
In Odd Things in Counterinsurgency after detailing a Marine unit’s all-day efforts to locate a local elder’s home in order to befriend him (when in fact neither he nor his people wanted him to be...
View ArticleDoes the U.S. Have A Moral Duty to Fix Afghanistan (or anywhere else)?
In an article for National Review Online, Patrick Brennan illuminates the thinking of General David McKiernan, commander of ISAF in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2009. To the extent that Brennan accurately...
View ArticleThe Body Count Foreign Policy: Civilian Casualties in Syria Force U.S. Hand?
Here we go again. In this article, we are told that the U.S. is now warning Syria of possible military action. Is it because the U.S. has finally determined that Syria’s support of terrorist outfits...
View Article
