Curing Afghanistan, and More…
Curing Afghanistan – Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell IV and Captain (USN) Mark R. Hagerott, Foreign Policy.
The battle for Marja in southern Afghanistan and the coming campaign in Kandahar are important, but victory on these battlefields will not win the war, though they will help set the conditions for success. It will take a comprehensive, holistic effort to bring stability to Afghanistan.
Drawing on our experience as institution builders, and after spending six months on the ground in Afghanistan, we would like to offer a different way to think about diagnosing this country’s ills — and finding the appropriate cures. In the course of our duties, we have helped build the Afghan army, police, air corps, educational institutions, military hospitals, logistics, and the bureaucracies of defense and interior. Rather than describing Afghanistan with the language of war and battles, we have come to think of the country as an ailing patient — in many ways analogous to a weakened person under attack by an aggressive infection.
To extend this analogy further, to rebuild the country’s long-term health, Afghan and coalition leaders must address the ailment at three levels: curing the body, mind, and spirit of the nation. This means rebuilding the body of physical infrastructure and physical security; restoring the mind of governmental and educational institutions; and reinvigorating the spirit of civil leadership and traditional, tolerant Islam…
Much more at Foreign Policy.
And also at Foreign Policy:
The New Rules of War – John Arquilla
The visionary who first saw the age of “netwar” coming warns that the U.S. military is getting it wrong all over again. Here’s his plan to make conflict cheaper, smaller, and smarter.
Planet War – Kayvan Farzaneh, Andrew Swift and Peter Williams
From the bloody civil wars in Africa to the rag-tag insurgiences in Southeast Asia, 33 conflicts are raging around the world today, and it’s often innocent civilians who suffer the most.
Africa’s Forever Wars – Jeffrey Gettleman
Why the continent’s conflicts never end.
In Praise of Aerial Bombing – Edward Luttwak
Why terror from the skies still works.
Let Europe Be Europe – Andrew J. Bacevich
Why the United States must withdraw from NATO.
Think Again: China’s Military – Drew Thompson
It’s not time to panic. Yet.
The Shooting War – Foreign Policy
An exclusive collection of work by the world’s most acclaimed conflict photographers.
