ISAF Campaign Plan Summary

[jmm99]

I'm well aware of this:

Operations, not strategy

Keep in mind that McChrystal is not the strategic commander here. In both roles (as ISAF commander and commander of US forces - most of them anyway - in Afghanistan) he is an operational commander responsible for designing and carrying out a campaign that will reach strategic goals set by others.

The objective (what is termed "success" in the Guidance) is set by Politik. Lets say we are at Point A and want to get to Point B (the objective set by Politik). CvC would call the plan to get from A to B, a part of what he called strategy. We call the plan from A to B, operations. I'm not hung on semantics.

Thus, one of my questions is whether the objective set by policy (which has the "Afghan People" participating as a collective people) is even possible as the culmination of a military plan ?

This has nothing to do with Stan McChrystal's competence. I can see where he can get from point a to point b on a local basis.

The question is whether those local pieces can add up to a whole (that is, to get from Point A to Point B), or whether Politik is tasking him to fight a war of a different nature than its reality ?