Paper - COIN and Strategic Development

The Small Wars Journal has posted an informative paper by Jeff Goodson about the socioeconomic development part of the overall military campaign strategy for Afghanistan during the years 2010 to 2012. Goodson is a retired US Foreign Service Officer who worked for USAID for 29 years. He served 31 months in Afghanistan during the 2006-2012 timeframe and seventeen months as Director of STAB/Development at ISAF HQs in 2010 to 2012. In his paper he provides us information about the STAB/Development section of ISAF to include its mandate, its staff, the campaign plan, types of development, the focus on eight basic services programs, and more. He concludes his paper recommending a "COIN light" approach and states that socioeconomics will almost always play a role in a counterinsurgency and stability operations. Read the article entitled "Strategic Development and Irregular Warfare: Lessons from the High Water Mark of Full-Spectrum COIN", Small Wars Journal, August 16,2015.