Why “Befuddled”?

Leslie Gelb, distinguished diplomat, journalist, and scholar, professes befuddlement over President Obama's strategy with respect to Afghanistan: I'm lost on President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy—along with most of Congress and the U.S. military. Not quite eight months ago, Mr. Obama pledged to "defeat" al Qaeda in Afghanistan by transforming that country's political and economic infrastructure, training Afghan forces and adding 21,000 ...

Quote of the Day – COIN Edition

"[General Stanley] McChrystal is not inclined to draw attention to his storied history as a special operator. But when he tells you that it's impossible to kill your way out of this war, you believe him -- because Lord knows, he's tried." - Andrew Exum, reporting back to Abu Muqawama after a month working on a project for ISAF in ...

Operation Khanjar Launches

I do a massive roundup of the news coverage of the massive show of force in Afghanistan's Helmand Valley that kicked off in the wee hours this morning in my New Atlanticist post "U.S. Launches Major Afghan Offensive." My detailed take at the link but what's most remarkable is not so much the sheer size of the undertaking -- which is ...

Doug Stanton: John Wayne Fan

Mark Safranski has a mini-review up of Doug Stanton's Horse Soldiers. Not having read the book, I don't have anything substantive to add.  I had previously mentally noted that Horse Soldiers was also the name of a classic John Wayne movie but figured it was a coincidence -- until I saw the bottom blurb that he had previous written a book ...

Abu Muqawama Moves to CNAS

Andrew Exum moved to CNAS a while back and now his blog, Abu Muqawama, has moved, too.   All your COIN belong to us and all that.  No word on whether Erin Simpson et al will be moving along with him. Update your links, feeds, and whatnot accordingly.

DoD Cutting Major Programs in Restructuring

The Defense Department is finally getting somewhat serious about COIN and other forms of nontraditional warfare, signaling major priority shifts with its new budget proposal. [caption id="attachment_34258" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Gen. George W. Casey last year displayed a vehicle from the Army's Future Combat Systems program, which is expected to be heavily cut. (By Haraz N. Ghanbari -- Associated Press) "][/caption] Gates's ...

How to Turn a Cigarette into a Knife

John Nagl's classic book on counterinsurgency is called Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife. Less insightful, perhaps, but easier to implement is Neil Strauss' survivalist video, "How to Turn a Cigarette into a Knife." Via Noah Shachtman, who has an interview with Strauss and several other videos. (Also, one of the most annoying pop-over ads I've yet to ...

Quote of the Day: COIN Edition

"No one who really understands COIN wants to do it." - Andrew Exum (aka Abu Muqawama)

Jury Duty and COIN

Erin Simpson: I'm working on a longer post on "what jury duty can teach you about counter-insurgency." It revolves around the following observation: prosecutors believe about 50 people witnessed the "urban gun battle" at the heart of the case I sat for; *3* eyewitnesses ultimately testified, all of whom had to be relocated due to concerns expressed about their ...

Tony Blankley: Bring Back the Draft

Tony Blankley, former press secretary to Newt Gingrich and editorial page editor of the Washington Times, has a new book out that, among other things, argues for reinstatement of the military draft.  Unlike liberals like Charlie Rangel or even centrist Phil Carter, he doesn't do so on the basis of "fairness" or spreading the burden but rather on the sheer ...

Afghanistan: Defining Victory

Over the weekend, Dave Schuler closed his post "Winning in Afghanistan" with three very good questions: What are our strategic objectives in Afghanistan? What tactics will effect those objectives? What are the logistical requirements of implementing the objectives? Today in New Atlanticist, my former graduate advisor, Don Snow, gives an extensive response with "Are We Losing in Afghanistan."    He frames the questions thusly: The problem ...

Iraq War Now Peacekeeping Mission?

Michael J. Totten weighs in on the  Iraq War is Over and We Won argument and decides that, while he's "reluctant" to answer that question in the affirmative, "The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. " [Michael] Yon is braver than the ...

McMaster Gets Star, ARCIC Directorship

H.R. McMaster has been officially nominated by the president for brigadier general and is "currently enroute to serve as director, concepts development and experimentation, Army Capabilities Integration Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virgina." Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell reports that, The ARCIC is a relatively new center that has the potential to be very influential in setting Army doctrine. ...

Bloggers and Journalism: False Dichotomy

Stilgherrian has attended one too many Future of Media conferences and he has a long tirade for Old Media journalists whining about bloggers and professional standards. What’s tiring about this false dichotomy is that it compares the highest ideal of journalism with the lowest grade of personal blogging about what the cat did yesterday and — lo and behold! — they’re ...

More Language and Culture, Fewer Guns

Apropos our value of foreign languages discussion earlier, Andrew Krepinevich, a highly regarded military analyst, says the Pentagon needs to commit far more resources to just that. "If the experience of the last seventeen years tells us anything, it is that we are likely to continue to find our armed forces deployed... in operations among the indigenous populations, rather than around ...