Was Counter-Insurgency an Illusion?

Counterinsurgency, billed as the thinking soldier’s approach to modern warfare, is no longer looking quite so clever, as respected commentators argue that COIN has ceased to be the answer for Afghanistan, and for the U.S. military.

In a new policy brief, David Barno, Andrew Exum and Matthew Irvine of the Center for a New American Security – which has led the way on COIN-think these past few years – argue that NATO forces in Afghanistan now “must shift away from directly conducting counterinsurgency operations and toward a new mission of ‘security force assistance.’”