Program Related Publication Feeds

The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR)

amausner — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

There are times to be polite about a dismal bureaucratic failure. Wartime is not one of them.

Reforming ANSF Metrics

amausner — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

The development of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) is one of the most critical aspects of the war. NATO/ISAF simply cannot bring this war to a successful conclusion without transitioning responsibility for security to the Afghans.

The Afghan War: Metrics, Narratives, and Winning the War

amausner — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Finding the Path to Victory: The Afghan Campaign and the Tools Needed to Win It

The Afghan War: A Campaign Overview

amausner — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Finding the Path to Victory: The Afghan Campaign and the Tools Needed to Win It

The Afghan Strategy Checklist

amausner — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

President Obama must now make a decision that will define his presidency. President Obama will have to take personal responsibility for the outcome of the war in Afghanistan, betting his historical reputation and second term on the outcome.

Afghan National Security Forces

amausner — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Afghan National Security forces: Forging the Right Key to Victory

Iraq: Security and the Challenges of Lasting "Victory"

amausner — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Changing Challenge to Iraqi Security

US Strategy in Afghanistan

amausner — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The last few weeks have done at least as much to reveal the critical weaknesses in US strategic thinking as they have done to clarify them.

Iraqi Trends and Afghan Resources

amausner — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Burke Chair at CSIS is issuing two new reports on the Iraq and Afghan Wars.

The Iraq report Recent Trends in the Iraq War: Maps and Graphs can be downloaded here.

Shape, Clear, Hold, and Build: "The Uncertain Lessons of the Afghan & Iraq Wars"

ian — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The US is losing the war in Afghanistan, and we risk losing the gains we have made in Iraq, largely as a result of our own mistakes. After eight years of war, the US is still seeking to learn how to address the problems of armed nation building.

Shape, Clear, Hold, and Build

amausner — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

(Speech given at the Cosmos Club on September 24, 2009)

We face a crisis in two wars. The US is losing the war in Afghanistan and we risk losing the gains we have made in Iraq, largely as a result of our own mistakes. After eight years of war the US is still seeking to learn how to address the problems of armed nation building.

Resourcing For Defeat

amausner — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The United States is now losing the war in Afghanistan, and is failing to consolidate its victory in Iraq. Reversing this situation requires changes in strategy, but it also requires significant additional resources.

The Afghan War

amausner — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The Afghan-Pakistan conflict is a complex conflict that covers two countries and has ideological, political, governance, economic, military, and security dimensions that are extremely difficult to measure and portray in summary form.

Legitimacy and the Afghan Elections

amausner — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Shape, Clear, Hold, and Build

amausner — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

The US experience in the Afghan and Iraq Wars is scarcely over. It has, however, already produced a wide range of lessons. Some are narrow and apply largely at the tactical or technical level.

Resourcing for Defeat

sherry — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0400

ABC News/Washington Post Poll on U.S. Views of Islam

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400

ABC News and the Washington Post recently conducted a poll of U.S. attitudes toward Islam and the Muslim world. The results are of significant interest to anyone addressing U.S.

America's Self-Destroying Air Power

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

An updated Burke Chair report entitled America’s Self-Destroying Air Power: Becoming Your Own Peer Threat examines the impact of a crisis in aircraft procurement on tactical, strategic, and enabling capabilities of U.S. air power. It draws on recent government and other reports to describe the problems in U.S. aircraft procurement and their impact on U.S.

Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Iran’s nuclear ambitions and missile programs, and their interactions with its growing capabilities for asymmetric warfare, are becoming steadily more critical security issues for the United States, Iran’s neighbors, and the international community.

The War in Gaza

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The Israeli-Hamas War, and there is little else that it can be called, has now lasted two weeks. Israeli jets have flown some 800 strike sorties, and the IDF has pushed deep into Gaza.

The Iraq War

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The debate over the impact of U.S. withdrawals from Iraq depends heavily on just how much progress has been made in defeating al Qaeda in Iraq and in removing the threat from Moqtada Al Sadr and the Madhi Army.

Defense Procurement by Paralysis

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The new administration will face a crisis in U.S. national security planning, programming, and budgeting. This crisis has accelerated sharply over the last eight years and requires a broad restructuring of the U.S. national security effort, defense spending, military manpower, procurement, and readiness.

Iranian Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Iran’s nuclear ambitions and missile programs, and their interactions with its growing capabilities for asymmetric warfare, are becoming steadily more critical security issues for the US, Ira

Transferring Provinces to Iraqi Control

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The victories that Iraqi and Coalition forces have won to date may have largely dealt with the “win” aspects of a “win, hold, and build” strategy, but this is only part of t

Abandon Ships

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Various responses to this report have added valuable insights to specific issues. This feedback has been integrated into an updated version of the ‘Abandon Ships’ report. Most significantly, a revised Navy shipbuilding cost estimate for Fiscal Year 2009 illustrates the scope of the strategy-reality disconnect (see A Growing Congressional Backlash).

Analyzing the Afghan-Pakistan War

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

It has now been more than six years since the start of the Afghan-Pakistan War, and serious questions still exist about the way in which the US, the UN, NATO/ISAF, and individual allied countries p

The Afghanistan-Pakistan War

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

It has now been more than six years since the start of the Afghan-Pakistan War, and serious questions still exist about the way in which the US, the UN, NATO/ISAF, and individual allied countries p

U.S. Troop Levels And Iraqi Perceptions of the United States

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Americans tend to see US troop levels in Iraq as being shaped by a US-domestic political debate. Polling by ABC News and other groups, however, tells another side of the story.

The Ongoing Lessons of Armed Nation Building In Afghanistan and Iraq

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The attached briefing was given at the Center for National Progress on June 10th, and attempts to summarize the strategic and tactical lessons we should have learned from our operations in Afghanis

The Afghan-Pakistan War

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Finding detailed and unbiased reporting on the Afghan war is extremely difficult. This report provides an objective, nonpartisan perspective on the conflict in Afghanistan. It describes

Conventional Armed Forces in the Gulf

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Conventional military strength is only one aspect of the trends in Gulf security, but it is important to understand how Gulf forces now compare and the mix of quantitative and qualitative strength

Iraqi Force Development 2008

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are the key to enduring stability in Iraq, and their ability to secure the country is the single most important factor determining the pace of US withdrawals.&

The Afghan-Pakistan War

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The Afghan War is not an unreported war in the media, but it is a largely unreported war in terms of useful, unclassified reporting by governments and NATO/ISAF.

War in Iraq

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

This report examins Iraqi and U.S. views of the war and its aftermath. It was presented at CSIS by Gary Langer on April 30, 2008.

A Poisoned Chalice?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The crisis in US national security planning, programming, and budgeting is not the fault of any one Administration, and has often been shaped by the mistakes of the US congress and key military com

Shaping a "Conditions-Based Strategy and Plan for Staying in Iraq"

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The progress report that Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus have just delivered has had a polarizing effect.

The Ongoing Lessons of the Afghan and Iraq Wars

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

There are obvious dangers in trying to draw any common lessons from the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. First, they are very different countries and very different wars.

The Failed Crocker-Petraeus Testimony and a "Conditions-Based" Strategy for Staying in Iraq

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I believe there is still a case for staying in Iraq, but I also believe that Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus decisively failed to make it.

The Cost of the Iraq War

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The Role of Airpower in the Iraq and Afghan Wars

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Much of the reporting on the Iraq and Afghan Wars focuses on the ground dimension.

The Iraq War After Five Years

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The attached briefing summarizes the latest US government, Iraqi government, and MNF-I data on the fighting.

The Lessons of the Israel-Hezbollah War

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Iraq, Afghanistan, and Self-Inflicted Wounds

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

There has been a great deal of debate about the lessons that should be drawn from Iraq and Afghanistan regarding counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. The attached briefing suggests that the real lessons are far more complex.

Twenty Questions on Progress and Problems in Iraq

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The attached report contains 20 detailed questions for Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus regarding the status of Iraq and the surge.

America's Last Chance in Iraq

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The US cannot impose its will on Iraq. It is dealing with a sovereign government. America does, however, retain immense influence because of the role its military forces still play, its role as a major aid donor, and the potential value of its advisory services and help in dealing with outside powers.

The Uncertain Cost of the Global War on Terror

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The economic cost of the war is less important than the human costs. The Iraq War alone has so far cost the lives of roughly 100,000 Iraqi civilians and wounded many times more. It has driven over two million out of the country, displaced more than two million within Iraq, and reduced eight million Iraqis to dire poverty.

The Tenuous Case for Strategic Patience in Iraq

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Everyone sees Iraq differently.

Success or Failure? Iraq's Insurgency and Civil Violence and U.S. Strategy

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The attached report contains a detailed analysis of the surge and recent developments of the ongoing insurgency and civil conflict in Iraq. Since the deployment of the troop “surge” in February, the insurgency has appeared to counter the various shifts in Coalition and Iraqi security measures.

Still Losing? The June 2007 Edition of "Measuring Stability in Iraq"

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The latest Department of Defense report on "Measuring Stability in Iraq" attempts to put a bad situation in a favorable light. It does not disguise many of the problems involved, but it does attempt to defend the strategy presented by President Bush in January 2007 in ways that sometimes present serious problems.

U.S. Strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan

Wed, 02 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Washington, DC, May 2, 2007- President Bush's veto of the efforts of a Democratic Congress to impose benchmarks on the Iraqi government, and deadlines for withdrawal, has ended yet another round in one of the most unpleasant and dishonest partisan political debates in modern US political history.