I recently returned from an interesting visit to Colombia. The government is working to consolidate its gains against the FARC and establish government services in formerly lawless areas. Colombia has developed the Policy for the Consolidation of Democratic Security (http://www.mindefensa.gov.co/descarg...c_Security.pdf) which is supported by the United States’ Colombian Strategic Development Initiative.

Both plans focus on delivering enduring economic opportunity and government services to formerly ungoverned or FARC controlled regions. Both plans shift resources from the primarily security heavy efforts of the last decade while maintaining extremely successful and unrelenting intelligence based targeting of the FARC leadership. With continued US support and Colombian political will, Colombia could prove to be an example of successful government consolidation following an internal conflict.

General Freddy Padilla de Leon’s analysis “Beyond Victory: The Future of the Armed Forces of Colombia” also provides some interesting insights into the way forward in Colombia. http://www.world-military.net/IMG/pd...RY_padilla.pdf