Interview with Jeffrey Dressler
Interview with Jeffrey Dressler
An Interim Assessment on the Campaign
for Regaining the Momentum in Helmand Province
by Octavian Manea
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with Jeffrey Dressler
Jeffrey Dressler is a Research Analyst at the
Institute for the Study of War
(ISW) where he studies security dynamics in southeastern and southern Afghanistan.
He has previously published the ISW report,
Counterinsurgency in Helmand: Progress and Remaining Challenges (January
2011). Dressler was invited to Afghanistan in July 2010 to join a team conducting
research for General David Petraeus following his assumption of command.
How would you diagnose the COIN efforts and the on the ground developments
before summer 2009?
Primarily, I would say that the effort was under-resourced from the beginning
of 2006 up until 2009. I would also point to a lack of strategic clarity in terms
of the objectives that were being pursued. The forces, lacking the resources and
the mandate to really operate in an aggressive manner, were unable to address the
enemy situation and instead were focusing on reconstruction and development as the
means to win over the population.
Download the full article:
with Jeffrey Dressler