![]() ![]() In fact it appears in the very next sentence of the ‘ The Way Forward in Afghanistan’ document. Gentile is correct that the core aim of the war in Afghanistan is to “disrupt, disable and eventually defeat al Qaeda.” He is correct that nation building does not appear in this sentence. COIN is not a strategy, and it never has been. It is authoritative but requires judgement in application.” Doctrine is implemented in a battle space at the operational level of war defined by NATO as “the level at which campaigns and major operations are planned, conducted and sustained to accomplish strategic objectives within theatres or areas of operation.” FM 3-24 is a doctrine that was used to plan campaigns specifically in Iraq and beyond to achieve the policy objectives of the war. NATO’s Glossary of Terms defines doctrine as, “Fundamental principles by which the military forces guide their actions in support of objectives. The current model of population-centric COIN is viewed through the doctrine espoused in the U.S. It is impossible to ignore the outstanding analysis available that discusses how operational doctrine has overwrought the concept of strategy in a variety of ways, but does the utilization of COIN in Iraq and Afghanistan qualify as the destroyers of strategy? The answer is no. Gentile states that COIN, which has now, as a term, become synonymous with the concept of population-centric COIN, has replaced strategy. Strategy is a distinctive part of the Clausewitzian logic of war. Strategy describes the deployment and use of armed forces for the purposes of achieving a given political objective. Nevertheless, the question remains, is Gentile correct that the concept of strategy in American security policy has been utterly obliterated? Such a critique might have some force and validity were it not entirely based on highly selective readings of policy, strategic theory and historical analysis. Gentile complains that the classical notion of strategy has been weakened and then buried under the fetishization of COIN. ‘The Death of American Strategy’ by Gentile in the third issue of Infinity Journal is the latest salvo in Gentile’s increasing frustration with the population-centric variant of Counterinsurgency (COIN) and its use on the battlefield. By itself, this is not a statement to be taken lightly. So this is the only place this piece will remain.Ĭounterinsurgency, according to Colonel Gian P. Update: INSS has demanded this post be removed from their site.
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