New Guidance on Counter-Insurgency

[MikeF]

True but we support COIN ops by those host nations as part of FID, SFA or whatever we call it. Tom

Tom,

You aptly described what we are doing (Oxford and Princeton version),; I am attempting to reframe the conversation towards what should we be doing not monday-morning quarterback the boys on the ground.

I am simply trying to shift this debate from tactical towards strategic and policy. If I was a commander on the ground in Afghanistan right now, I would follow McChrystal's words verbatem.

There is simply a huge gap between clear and build, between COIN theory and nation-building. If anything, your time in Africa can attest to that.

Overall, my thoughts are the tactical debate (Nagl v/s Gentile, kinetic v/s non-kinetic, those that get "it" v/s those that don't) is irrelevant in the strategic sphere of transnational terrorism, limitations of democratization, and constraints of globalization coupled in the age old mantras of tribes, ethnicity, and religion.

I wish I had simple answers. I do not.


v/r

Mike