In early 2003, the Association of the U.S. Army and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released the final report from their joint, blue ribbon Commission on Post-Conflict Reconstruction (PCR) that had completed its year-long study in 2002.1…
Counterinsurgency (COIN) continues to be a controversial subject among military leaders. Critics argue that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made the U.S. military, particularly the Army, “COIN-centric.” They maintain that equipping U.S. forces to combat insurgency has eroded…
This edition covers the following Stabilization and Transition topics: Governance, Security, Economic Stabilization, Infrastructure, Rule of Law, FHA / HADR, and Interagency. In this issue, our PKSOI Stability sector experts provide their analysis and thoughts on the submitted lessons. Contact…
This publication spotlights the criticality of investing in Training for, and during, Peace and Stability Operations – with lessons from Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and other operations and programs. This product also offers an extensive list of references/documents/links that can serve…
This compendium provides a number of lessons learned submitted by U.S. Army War College students while attending elective courses on stability operations. Lessons cover the following topics: Ebola response and Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF); climate change as a driver of…
Beginning in 2013, the U.S. Army began an effort to “engage regionally and respond globally.” A central tenant of this strategy, building upon National strategic guidance, is the necessity to build partner capacity. Army units, through the regionally aligned forces…
The Human Terrain System embedded civilians primarily in brigade combat teams (BCTs) in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2007 and 2014 to act as a collection and dispersal mechanism for sociocultural comprehension. Set against the backdrop of the program’s evolution, the…
Experience from Afghanistan and Iraq has demonstrated the vital nature of understanding human terrain, with conclusions relevant far beyond counterinsurgency operations in the Islamic world. Any situation where adversary actions are described as “irrational” demonstrates a fundamental failure in understanding…
The threat perceptions of many Arab states aligned with the United States have changed significantly as a result of such dramatic events as the 2011 U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, the emergence and then fading of the Arab Spring, the…
The wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan were lost before they began, not on the battlefields, where the United States won every tactical engagement, but at the strategic level of war. In each case, the U.S. Government attempted to create…