By Gary Anderson, Small Wars Journal: “The stalemated conflict in Afghanistan is becoming a forever war because it is a “for profit' enterprise for powerful interests on both Afghan sides of the war. Many senior leaders of the Afghan government, as well as the Taliban, are profiting daily from the conflict - why would they want to participate in a peace process that would kill their cash cow? This does not mean that the U.S. government should withdraw from the war - which is as worth fighting today as it was in 2001.”
Leveraging Regional Expertise to Counter Influence Operations
By Geoff McKeel, Strategy Bridge: “While these language and cultural initiatives are a step in the right direction, they are simply not aggressive enough to counter the rise of influence operations, or actions designed to produce a desired outcome on a target audience, which are becoming more prevalent as information and technology continue to reach more of the world’s people.”