Counterinsurgency on the Ground in Afghanistan

Counterinsurgency on the Ground in Afghanistan by Jerry Meyerle, Megan Katt, and Jim Gavrilis; CNA’s Center for Strategic Studies.

This book provides a glimpse into what relatively small military units—teams, platoons, companies, and highly dispersed battalions—have done to roll back the insurgency in some of the more remote areas of Afghanistan. The focus is on counterinsurgency at the tactical and local levels. The book includes 15 vignettes about different units from the US Marines, Army, and Special Forces, the British Army and Marines, the Dutch Army and Marines, and the Canadian Army. The case studies cover ten provinces in Afghanistan’s south and east. They describe the diverse conditions these units faced, how they responded to these conditions, what worked and what did not, and the successes they achieved. The research is based almost entirely on interviews with those involved in these operations.

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