The Rise And Fall Of Village Stability Operations In Afghanistan: Lessons For Future Irregular Warfare Campaigns
This Irregular Warfare Initiative article was originally posted through our partner organization, the Modern War Institute at West Point. In 2009, as American interest focused once again on Afghanistan, seasoned special operations forces (SOF) commanders conceived a plan they believed could transform the floundering war effort. Fueled by frustration with
Any Time Any Place? Why Cutting the Air Force’s Irregular Warfare Capabilities Is a Mistake
In Jean Larteguy’s 1960 novel The Centurions, Colonel Raspéguy—the fictional commander of French paratroopers during the 1954 Battle at Dien Bien Phu and again during France’s war in Algeria—reflects on the repeated failures of regular armies throughout history to effectively counter well-organized guerrilla forces. Success in
Spies, Lies and Algorithms: US Intelligence in a Changing World
Shawna Sinnott and Laura Jones Episode 58 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast focuses on the US intelligence community and its role in supporting the spectrum of national security missions, from the heavy counterterrorism focus of the post-9/11 era to today’s environment of strategic competition. Our guests begin by
The Changing Face of Insurgency
This Irregular Warfare Initiative article was originally posted through our partner organization, the Modern War Institute at West Point. David Ucko, The Insurgent’s Dilemma: A Struggle to Prevail (Hurst, 2022) When imagining counterinsurgency, I think about flying a helicopter full of US Navy SEALs and their Iraqi commando counterparts
Worthless Coin: Why the West Should Keep Studying Counterinsurgency
Christian Tripodi and Matthew Wiger The US Army has lost interest in counterinsurgency training. Over the past year, the withdrawal from Afghanistan appears to have drawn a line under COIN’s modern incarnation, while escalation in eastern Europe has focused policymakers’ minds on the possibility of major combat operations against
Worthless COIN? Why the West Should Keep Studying Counterinsurgency
This Irregular Warfare Initiative article was originally posted through our partner organization, the Modern War Institute at West Point. The US Army has lost interest in counterinsurgency training. Over the past year, the withdrawal from Afghanistan appears to have drawn a line under COIN’s modern incarnation, while escalation in
The Terrible Trade-Off: Why Governments Must Choose Between More Violence or Stronger Gangs
Christopher Blattman, Benjamin Lessing and Santiago Tobón Nearly every neighborhood in Medellín, Colombia, has a combo, or local street gang—almost four hundred in all. They earn most of their money from local drug sales. Some also run protection rackets, while others market legal goods—arepas, eggs, and even cooking
Who Cares About Context? The Case for Getting Serious in the Civil Environment
Nicholas Krohley and Stefan Muehlich Where, when, how, and why do civil dynamics matter to the military? How do the US military and its NATO allies identify and exploit relevant civil phenomena? To what extent should military commanders care about the overwhelming majority of a given operational environment that is
Money Talks: How Nonstate Armed Groups Finance Their Operations and Intelligence
Laura Jones and Shawna Sinnott Episode 57 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast focuses on how terrorist organizations and other nonstate armed groups finance their activities, and how the United States and its allies can counter those streams of money. Our guests begin by framing the techniques, both legal and illicit,
What NATO’s New Strategic Concept Gets Wrong
Sandor Fabian For the first time in more than a decade, NATO has announced a new strategic concept. Hailed as a historic action, and adopted after a summit in Madrid, the concept provides much-needed strategic clarity by naming Russia the most important and immediate threat to transatlantic security. But it
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