A Look at 'Operational Assessments' in Afghanistan

Commander's (and staffs) are continually trying to assess how well the fight is going in Afghanistan. This quest for answers to their questions covers a broad spectrum of areas. For instance, how well is the information operations structure of ISAF forming the perceptions of the Afghan National Security Forces, what does the population think of the legitimacy of the Afghan government, how well is the Afghan National Army doing in recruiting and retention of its soldiers, are the Afghan security forces winning the fight against the insurgents, and so on. An article about the assessment process in southern Afghanistan provides us with detailed information about how an assessment process can have too much data and be irrelevant. Read "Recognizing Systems in Afghanistan: Lessons Learned and New Approaches to Operational Assessments", by William P. Upshur, Jonathan W. Roginski, and David J. Kilcullen, Prism 3, No. 3, page 87-104. An Adobe Acrobat PDF posted on website of Caerus Associates located at this link.