Paper - Four Views of the Long War

Joseph J. Collins, a retired Army Colonel, former Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense, and now employed at the National Defense University (NDU) provides us with a paper that takes a look at four new books about the "Long War" and its lessons for the future. He discusses Robert Gate's memoir, Duty; a recent RAND study by Linda Robinson et al, Improving Strategic Competence: Lessons from 13 Years of War; LTG Daniel Bolger's book, Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars; and John Nagl, Knife Fights: a Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice. His paper is informative and spot on. Read "The Long War: Four Views", Small Wars Journal, January 5, 2015.

Book Review - "Why We Lost"

Carter Malkasian has penned a book review of retired LTG Daniel Bolger's book entitled "Why We Lost". LTG Bolger has been very critical of how the Iraq and Afghan War's were conducted. According to Malkasian, the book is a 500-page history filled with stories of Soldiers and Marines in firefights and close combat and provides input into how the United States should wage war. Malkasian points out the strengths and flaws of Bolger's book. Malkasian is the author of "War Comes to Garmser". He works at the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), spent several years in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was the political advisor to General Joe Dunford (COMISAF) in Afghanistan from May 2013 to August 2014. Read "Book review: 'Why We Lost,' a general's account of two wars, by Daniel Bolger", The Washington Post, January 2, 2015.

Review of Books on War

Michiko Kakutani has penned an extensive article that reviews a host of books that have been published about the Iraq and Afghan Wars. Read "Human Costs of the Forever Wars, Enough to Fill a Bookshelf", The New York Times, December 25, 2014.

Book - "Answering the Pashtun Question"

Abu-Bakr Siddique has wrote a book entitled The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book examines the Pashtun jihadists ("good" and "bad"), history of jihadism in Pakistan, Pakistani motivation for supporting the Afghan Taliban ("good"), and the significance of the Durand Line. The book is also very rich in analysis and provides a good history of the Pashtuns. The book is reviewed by Myra MacDonald, a former Reuters journalist and book author. Read the book review in "Answering the Pashtun Question", War on the Rocks, December 29, 2014.

Interview - Author "Warrior Diplomat"

Mike Waltz, Green Beret, Afghan policy guy, and book author, is interviewed by Peter Bergen of New America on his book, Afghanistan, and how to move forward in the conflict. See the interview of the author of "Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan" that took place on December 4, 2014 and is now available for viewing on YouTube (1 hour 20 minutes - time well spent).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq2jR1RUbRM

Book "Failure of Counterinsurgency"

The topic of counterinsurgency is popular if you judge it by the number of books coming out. It is interesting to see so many perspectives on COIN in literature; and there are certainly more to come. Supporters are trying to justify COIN while detractors criticize it. Ivan Eland, a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, has wrote his perspective of COIN in The Failure of Counterinsurgency: Why Hearts and Minds Are Seldom Won. Read an article on why COIN failed in Afghanistan that he posted in The World Post (Huffington), (Dec 1, 2014).

Interview w/ Author of "Warrior Diplomat"

Peter Bergen, the director of the International Security Program of New America, will be interviewing Michael G. Waltz - the author of a recent book about Afghanistan. Waltz is a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army Special Forces (Reserve Component) and the author of Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan. Waltz deployed to Afghanistan three times with the Special Forces, worked as a policy advisor on counter-terrorism for Vice President Richard Chaney, and helped shape policy for Afghanistan at the Pentagon. The interview will take place on Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 12:15 pm - 1:45 pm. If you click on "RSVP" at the link provided below you should be able to watch the video online.
www.newamerica.org/international-security/warrior-diplomat/

Night Raids and Counterbureaucracy

The loosened up rules for the conduct of night raids will go a long way to strengthen the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency fight. The targeting of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders can increase and hopefully provide some good results that will improve the overall security situation in Afghanistan. This is especially true given the recent resurgence of the Taliban and demonstrated ability and will to continue attacks well beyond the end of the traditional fighting season. So President Ghani's enlightened approach to night raids is refreshing. Now if we can just get the ISAF (and the U.S. headquarters) bureaucracy to cooperate we will be on the right track. Read one experienced Special Forces officer's frustration with the "excessive bureaucracy that has hobbled our ability to conduct effective night raids" in "Back to Night Raids: Counterinsurgency or Counterbureaucracy?", War on the Rocks, December 1, 2014.

Book - "Worth Dying For"

Terry Gould, an investigative reporter from Canada, has wrote a book entitled "Worth Dying For". The book is about a unit of the Canadian police who work overseas as civilian police advisors. The program is run by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Thousands of Canadian police have worked overseas in areas such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Palestine, etc. helping to advise and support local police departments in conflict prone areas. The author views these police trainers as humanitarian idealists who believe in their mission to mentor police in the universal principles of civilized law enforcement. Read the book review in "B.C. journalist Terry Gould offers an intimate portrait of idealism amid war and devastation", The Vancouver Sun, November 28, 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com.

Book - "Knife Fights"

John A. Nagl is getting a lot of reviews of his book "Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice". Read one more review by Rosa Brooks in The Washington Post.

Book - "Why We Lost"

Jeff Schogol, a staff writer for the Military Times, offers us his review of the book by retired Army Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger, entitled Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Bolger argues that the U.S. lost the wars because it stayed in place after its initial victories in 2001 (Afghanistan) and 2003 (Iraq). Schogol says not many solutions are offered and a better title might be "What Went Wrong". Read Schogol's book review in "Why We Lost: offers few answers on Iraq and Afghanistan (November 20, 2014).

CONOP Approval in Afghanistan

Ask any Special Forces Soldier who served in Afghanistan (or Iraq) what the number one issue he would fix and the answer is likely to be "CONOP Approval". CONOP stands for Concept of Operation. In earlier days this was a short text paragraph in an operations order. However, in today's Army (and yes, today's Special Forces) a CONOP is a 40-page PowerPoint presentation. Michael Vickers, the current Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence was briefed in Afghanistan by a Special Forces company commander on the process for CONOP approval and his response was "What the hell are we doing here?". The conversation noted above is an excerpt from a book by Michael G. Waltz, the Special Forces officer doing the brief to Vickers, entitled Warrior Diplomat (available on Amazon.com). Read more in "Tales of war: Getting 12 approvals for a relatively minor mission in Afghanistan", by Thomas Ricks in Best Defense, November 24, 2014.

Book - "The Good War"

Jack Fairweather's new book The Good War: Why We Couldn't Win the War or the Peace in Afghanistan is reviewed by Ioannis Koskinas in "War and Peace in Afghanistan", The South Asia Channel - Foreign Policy, November 21, 2104.

Book - "Afghanistan: A Canadian Story"

A new book is out about the Canadian involvement with Afghanistan. It is entitled Afghanistan: A Canadian Story 2001-2014. Read a book review at "Canadian Armed Forces members share Afghanistan war stories in book", Edmonton Sun, November 16, 2014.

Book Review - "Return of a King"

A new book by William Dalrymple is out about the misadventures of the British in Afghanistan. It covers the events of the First Afghan War of 1839-1842 when the British placed an exiled former Afghan King - Sha Shuja - back on the throne. Of course, if you know a little bit of Afghan history, all did not end well. Read a book review on Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, The Daily Star, November 2014.

Book - "Dead Men Risen"

A book review on Dead Men Risen: An Epic Story of War and Heroism in Afghanistan is provided to us by George Vlachnoikolis of the War on the Rocks Blog (November 19, 2014). The book is about the story of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards (1WG) and their deployment to Afghanistan in summer 2009. The book reviews the recent history of the battalion (to include the Falklands); however the main part of the book is about Helmand province. Read the book review here in "The Lessons of the Dead in Helmand". Book can be bought on Amazon.com here.

A Slashing of "Knife Fights"

John Nagl, the author of How to Eat Soup with a Knife, has authored a new book entitled Knife Fights. Nagl, a counterinsurgency advocate (he was one of the authors of the 2006 FM 3-24), is a favorite target of the anti-COIN crowd. His latest book, Knife Fights, is slammed hard by a commentator in "Revenge of the COIN Doctrine", The American Conservative,  October 31, 2014.

Criminal Probe on SEAL Book

The former Navy SEAL who wrote a first hand account of the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden is under investigation for possibly disclosing classified information. Read more in "Author of Bin Laden book is under criminal probe", Stars and Stripes, October 31, 2014.

Book - "Swimming with Warlords"

The journalist Kevin Sites has wrote a book on Afghanistan entitled Swimming with Warlords: A Dozen-Year Journey Across the Afghan War. His view on the current state of affairs in Afghanistan is not a pretty one yet he says that "hope" is alive and he is optimistic about the future of Afghanistan. The book is available on Amazon.com.

Interview with John Nagl - Author "Knife Fights"

Dr. John Nagl was recently (October 28, 2014) interviewed about his new book "Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice". Nagl is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and a former president of The Center for a New American Century. The book is an education in 21st Century Warfare - both its theory and its practice. Nagl first came into the public eye with his book "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife" - about counterinsurgency and how the United States had to understand an insurgency and be flexible in its response and able to adjust its strategy to deal with the threat. The interview, narrated by Peter Bergen (no slouch himself on warfare, insurgency and terrorism) was recorded by The Center for a New American Century, it is 1 hour and 23 minutes long and can be seen at the link below on YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WLiErc2mw