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Setting the Record Straight on Eradication in Helmand
There is a robust poppy eradication campaign in Helmand and it is the single most destructive and predatory thing being done to the population. Both the US and Britain would be well-served by an honest...
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The (Colour Sergeant) Bourne Legacy: Soldierly Discipline
“Do your collar up lad, where do you think you are?” It is perhaps natural that most civilians gain what understanding they have of contemporary war, its conduct, and the role that soldiers play in it,...
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It’s official: The war’s not worthy
Last night I was invited to the Durham Union Society to debate against the motion ‘The Afghan War is to be regretted’. As you might expect I lost heavily by about 99 to 1–no surprise since personally...
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We are looking for a few good men: What if they don’t show up?
The Royal Navy (and several of its Commonwealth cousins) have a toast for each day of the week. Each toast is a salute to (or, in a sense, a wish for) some element or component necessary for the...
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Beef, Tomatoes and Solar Panels: The Dubious Metrics of COIN.
The author is King’s War Studies Alumni, a former British army Captain and former Afghan analyst for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. ————————————————- I had the good fortune to hear Brigadier Doug...
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Hammers, Spanners and Civil Wars
The UK Parliament’s Commons Select Committee released a report on wednesday entitled “Securing the Future of Afghanistan” because, apparently, UK “PLC” is still interested in doing so. One wonders how...
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Talking with the Taliban: A New ICSR Report
Last week I attended an event at the New America Foundation where Ryan Evans, Peter Neumann and Ambassador Omar Samad presented the new ICSR report, Talking to the Taliban: Hope over History?. The...
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Did CT Kill COIN? – Perspectives on the Special Forces Raids
James Kitfield, author of the classic text Prodigal Soldiers, has penned an interesting ‘five takeaways’ article about the two US Special Operations raids in Somalia and Libya last week. One of his...
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PTSD and mental health: Forget the media hype – are we prepared for Army 2020?
Ashley Ryan, a student at City & Islington College, intends to enroll in 2014 for War Studies at King’s College London. Joseph Ryan, PhD, is studying for a PsychD in Psychotherapeutic and...
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‘Not quite dead yet’: the counterinsurgency debate continues…
Though some claim counterinsurgency is dead, the debate about it is still going strong. It remains to be seen whether the raft of recently released and soon-to-be-published books on the topic are the...
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