The Afghan Balance of Power and the Culture of Jihad
Abstract
DEFINING THE ROOT causes of an insurgency amounts to identifying why an otherwise docile population takes up arms against its government. Westerners and Afghans alike do not typically awake in the morning contemplating who will lead their nation that day. Most people lead lives with simple concerns. They wake up, go to work, interact with colleagues, come home, and play with their kids. Their government-related concerns typically center on mundane issues such as trash pickup and law and order. In Afghanistan, however, this balance has been upset. What has gone so wrong that people feel compelled to revolt against their government? We will discover the root cause of the current insurgency in the answer to this question. We may visualize the conflict in Afghanistan as the competition of alternative narratives?government vs. insurgent?that demands the local people choose between them. In his Tactical Directive of 6 July 2009, General Stanley McChrystal writes, ?Our strategic goal is to defeat the insurgency threatening the stability of Afghanistan. Like any insurgency, there is a struggle for the support and will of the population. Gaining and maintaining that support must be our overriding operational imperative and the ultimate objective of every action we take.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA542609
Entities
People
- Daryl C. Youngman
- John J. Malevich
Organizations
- United States Army Combined Arms Center