By Robert Cassidy & Jacqueline Tame, Strategy Bridge: ““Its grammar, indeed, may be its own, but not its logic. If that is so, then war cannot be divorced from political life; and whenever this occurs in our thinking about war, the many links that connect the two elements are destroyed and we are left with something pointless and devoid of sense.””
How New Is the New Afghanistan Strategy?
By John Amble & Liam Collins, Modern War Institute: “The president’s speech was the first exposition of the administration’s revamped strategy, so there is unsurprisingly much that has yet to be revealed. However, the remarks do offer a useful jumping off point to assess how much is actually new in the strategy, and what challenges to implementation are likely to emerge.”
By Enjamin Jensen, Neil Hollenbeck and Arnel David, War on the Rocks: “The Army should explore the full range of competitive models that can help it sustain its position of advantage. Specifically, a review of business literature and historical military cases suggests long-term competitive advantage can also arise from cost leadership and differentiation in the form of an expansible industrial base, experimenting with prototypes and sustaining an alliance network.”
By William Maley, The Strategist (ASPI): “On the morning of 31 May 2017, a 1,500-kilogram truck bomb was detonated outside the German Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul, only streets away from the US and Australian missions. Windows were smashed all the way from Great Massoud Square to the Haji Yaqub mosque in Shahr-e Naw, over 90 people were killed, and over 500 were injured. If ever there was an indicator that a fresh approach to dealing with the insurgency in Afghanistan was required, then this was it.”