Applying Iraq to Afghanistan
by Bradford M. Burris, Major, Psychological Operations, United States Army
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Applying Iraq to Afghanistan
Editor's Note: this article was submitted
to us in early May, so the recent change in leadership at ISAF were not known to
the author at the time. We feel the analysis remains relevant so we are
publishing as is, and a re-write/ update is not what MAJ Burris needs to be
doing in his last days before he's off to Afghanistan to do that "applying."
Now that the new US strategy for
prosecuting the war in Afghanistan has been determined, military leaders and
media pundits are turning their attention to discussions of the best manner in
which to implement and execute the strategy. As the military develops plans
supporting the strategy and journalists search for stories about the plans, both
will ask three questions: first, what made US forces successful during the Iraq
war; second, do those successes provide lessons learned for Afghanistan; and
finally, how could US personnel translate those lessons to future military
operations regardless of the culture and geography? This essay is certainly not
the first to investigate these three questions; however, it is unique because it
supports no political or military agenda regarding the war in Afghanistan.
Although this essay will not provide an
analysis of strategic motives, take a position on operational decision-making,
nor make political comparisons between Iraq and Afghanistan; it will explore the
American policies that fomented transition of the Al Anbar province from what
was once referred to as the "wild west" to what experts now call a model for
stability operations. I will use process-tracing to identify relationships
between US military activity and sustainable security in Anbar, present a theory
explaining the correlation between US policy and provincial stability, present
the general similarities at the provincial level between the situation in Iraq
and Afghanistan, and extrapolate the positive lessons learned from the Anbar
experience to the current US involvement in Afghanistan.
To frame the discussion of current
situation in Afghanistan, I will draw heavily from General Stanley McChrystal's
initial situational assessment provided to the US political leadership in August
2009. The result of my analytical research will be to provide US policy
recommendations that are both specific enough to be effective at the provincial
level in Afghanistan, as well as broad enough to be effective in U.S. military
operations regardless of geographical location. In order to maintain academic
rigor and to encourage professional military discourse, I will also address the
counterarguments to the assertions laid out in this essay.
Download the full article:
Applying Iraq to Afghanistan
Major Bradford M. Burris
entered the United States Army in 1996 and has since commanded three times. He
commanded a Field Artillery training battery from March 2001 until June 2002.
He commanded Headquarters Battery, 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment
from November 2002 until March 2004 during which time he deployed in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. He commanded Alpha Company, 8th PSYOP BN (Airborne)
from July 2007 until November 2008 during which time he deployed to numerous
U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility locations. He is currently earning
a Master of Science Degree in Defense Analysis at the United States Naval Post
Graduate School.
