Home - Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan - NATO LibGuides at NATO Multimedia Library

Keywords

When searching for information on this topic, potential keywords to use include :

COIN / counterinsurgency &
Afghanistan
ISAF
the Taliban

Notes

This LibGuide includes links to content found on the web (e.g. websites, news & blogs, reports, etc.) as well as a select number of articles and books available from the NATO Multimedia Library.

Please note that this is not a comprehensive collection of material on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan. The selection criteria for the websites and documents included was based on each item's currency and relevancy to this topic.

Furthermore, quick search boxes for online databases subscribed by the Library (available to staff working at NATO HQ) as well as links to the library catalog are available for you to locate additional resources.

Welcome!

This LibGuide is intended to provide a few starting points to assist you with your research on issues related to counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, in particular in the NATO context.

Good places to start your research include :

The NATO in Afghanistan portal and the Topic page on NATO's Role in Afghanistan
The NATO in Afghanistan: Transition LibGuide
The NATO Review page on Afghanistan 2011 versus Afghanistan 2001: the same country? (2011)
The website of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, where you can find the mission / mandate by the NATO Allied Commander Operations (ACO), maps, key facts and figures (updated 15 November 2010) and the "Counterinsurgency (COIN)" page.
Important speeches delivered about Afghanistan by NATO officials (e.g. Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen; NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, Ambassador Mark Sedwill, ISAF Commander, General David Patraeus, etc.)
Communiqués from the London Conference (28 January 2010) and the Kabul Conference (20 July 2010).
Documents from the Lisbon Summit:
NATO Civil-Military Fusion Centre's Afghanistan Review
Other international organizations involved in Afghanistan:
- United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
- Non-Governmental and international humanitarian organizations operating in Afghanistan
- The NGO Department within the Ministry of Economy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Recent reports concerning the situation in Afghanistan:
- How Afghanistan Can Work by Linda Robinson, Council on Foreign Relations (2 December 2011)
- "Afghanistan: Where Things Stand 2010", by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research (6 December 2010)
- "Afghanistan: Exit vs Engagement" (in Asia Briefing no. 115) by the International Crisis Group (28 November 2010)
- and a RAND Corporation's monograph by Andrew R. Hoehn and Sarah Harting, published in 2010, which focuses on NATO's role in Afghanistan and the implications that this undertaking and its results could have for the future of the alliance.
Documents about counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, as a starting point:
- Development in Afghanistan's Counterinsurgency: A New Guide, by Dr Mark Moyar (Orbis Operations, LCC) published in March 2011;
- Counterinsurgency and the Future of NATO by John Nagl and Richard Weitz, Chicago Council Transatlantic Paper Series, no. 1, (October 2010)
- The Counterinsurgency Challenge for NATO by Christopher M. Schanaubelt, in "Counterinsurgency: The Challenge for NATO Strategy & Operations", Christopher Schnaubelt, ed., (Rome: NATO Defense College, November 2009), p. 6.
- Doctrine for Counterinsurgency at the Tactical Level, by French Minister of Defence (Paris: Forces Employment Doctrine Center, April 2010)
- The official U.S. Joint doctrine released in October 2009 which provides the foundation for defining insurgency and counterinsurgency (COIN) and the principles of COIN
- Counterinsurgency Principles for the Diplomat by Kurt Amend in Small Wars Journal (2008)
The importance of intelligence community to the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan is described in a paper written in January 2010 by Major General Michael T. Flynn, USA, Captain Matt Pottinger, USMC and Paul D. Batchelor, DIA.
A case study: counterinsurgency operations in Marjah (2009-2010), a paper published by Brett Van Ess in "Small War Journals" on 30 September 2010 ("The Fight for Marjah : Recent Counterinsurgency Operations in Southern Afghanistan.")
Witness accounts:
- Captain Doug Beattie of 1 Royal Irish Regiment writes from the Helmand frontline and for Channel 4 News on how progress only comes with a price paid by both soldiers and the local population (10 Feb 2011)
- Carl Thompson, Captain in the Maryland National Guard who served two recent tours in Afghanistan, offered his views in April 2009 on how to conduct counter-insurgency in Afghanistan.
- Nir Rosen, an Arabic-speaking journalist, in a 2008 article “How We Lost the War We Won”, described his travel with Taliban fighters in the Andar District of Ghazni Province.