April 21, 2023 As a recent report from the Stimson Center and the Center for Civilians in Conflicts’ (CIVIC) Rosie Berman, Dan Mahanty, and Annie Shiel argues, “accountable state security institutions are a cornerstone of good governance,” and that when, “governments fail to hold…their security institutions accountable, or when external and internal sources of instabilityContinue reading “Unaccountable is Unacceptable: On the Need to Increase U.S. Security Sector Accountability”
Category Archives: Afghanistan
Bringing Back the U.S. Civilian Response Corps: Lessons from the British Empire and the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan
March 7, 2023 In August of 2021, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released its most comprehensive analysis of lessons learned from twenty years of U.S. and coalition attempts to vanquish the Taliban and to reconstruct the country in such a way that a democratically elected government in Kabul could eventually take over.Continue reading “Bringing Back the U.S. Civilian Response Corps: Lessons from the British Empire and the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan”
Avoiding Stabilization Whac-A-Mole: Failures in Afghanistan and Lessons From the British Empire (Early Progress Sneak Peek)
February 10, 2023 (What follows is just a brief look at the piece I am working on for next week. Enjoy at your leisure or come back next week for the full piece.) In August of 2021, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, and his team, released its most comprehensiveContinue reading “Avoiding Stabilization Whac-A-Mole: Failures in Afghanistan and Lessons From the British Empire (Early Progress Sneak Peek)”
Effective, Impartial, and Transparent: The Need for Civilian Review of Alleged Incidents of Civilian Harm in U.S. Military Operations
February 3, 2023 In August of 2021, as the U.S. military was completing its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, using Hellfire missiles, destroyed a vehicle driving near Hamid Karzai International Airport that the Department of Defense initially said was laden with explosives. However, despite weeks of insisting that the strikeContinue reading “Effective, Impartial, and Transparent: The Need for Civilian Review of Alleged Incidents of Civilian Harm in U.S. Military Operations”
An Orphaned Failure: The Demise of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces
May 27, 2022 On May 12, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released an interim report to the House Armed Services Committee and House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding the collapse of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) before, during, and after the U.S. pullout, which was completed in AugustContinue reading “An Orphaned Failure: The Demise of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces”
A Political and Planning Failure: How Corruption Helped Doom U.S. Involvement in Afghanistan
August 20, 2021 This week, as Kabul fell, and the United States begins its last days in Afghanistan, for now, there have been a myriad of reasons offered for the collapse of the Afghan government. These range from the Trump and Biden administration’s announcements of U.S. withdrawal to the overall failure by U.S., NATO, andContinue reading “A Political and Planning Failure: How Corruption Helped Doom U.S. Involvement in Afghanistan”
Who Lost the War vs. Why the U.S. Lost the War: Lessons from Afghanistan
July 23, 2021 This week, a new report was published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Burke Chair in Strategy, Anthony H. Cordesman. As I have stated before in this space, Cordesman is routinely the most clear-eyed assessor of the ongoing U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and the Middle East, offering unvarnished looks atContinue reading “Who Lost the War vs. Why the U.S. Lost the War: Lessons from Afghanistan”
Another Painful Lesson in Afghanistan: The Afghanistan Study Group’s Final Report
On February 3rd, the Congressionally mandated Afghanistan Study Group, in conjunction with the United States Institute of Peace, released its “Final Report”. The Study Group was co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, General Joseph F. Dunford Jr (Ret.), the United States’ 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ms. Nancy Lindborg, PresidentContinue reading “Another Painful Lesson in Afghanistan: The Afghanistan Study Group’s Final Report”
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