Summary: Advocates for the Af-Pak war often make dubious statements about the past, attempting to rekindle America’s enthusiasm for a war in which we have no meaningful stake. Today Max Boot provides another example. This is the first of series about the history of counterinsurgency. The other chapters: (2) A major discovery! It could change the …
Summary: The key ingredient for a foreign army’s success fighting an insurgency is independence. Building and supporting the local government’s legitimacy, with their people confident that the foreigners will leave after winning. It’s the key theme of FM 3-24, the COIN guide — but ignored in practice by our military. It contributed to victory in Malaysia, and …
The key to success in Afghanistan: independence Read More »
Here is a guest post about the situation in Afghanistan by Jonathan Mueller, a sharp and insightful operational analysis. Note the brief description of his background appearing after the essay. My thanks to him for sharing this with us. One caveat: I disagree with the strategic context of his analysis. That is, counter-insurgency successes are almost …
The deteriorating situation in Helmand, by Jonathan Mueller Read More »
Summary:  This is Part 3 of this series, looking at more pathways to failure in Iraq. Only when we abandon our dreams of victory can salvage what we can and plan for successes after Iraq. Links to the other chapters are at the end. . History repeats itself because we fail to learn from it. “Our nation …
More paths to failure in Iraq. Part III of a series. Read More »
