'Social Network Warfare' and America's New Counterinsurgency Doctrine
28 November 2007
Noah Shachtman, 'How Technology Almost Lost the War: In Iraq, the Critical Networks Are Social ? Not Electronic', Wired, 27 November 2007
EXCERPT: "The [U.S.] Army has set aside $41 million to build what it calls Human Terrain Teams: 150 social scientists, software geeks, and experts on local culture, split up and embedded with 26 different military units in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year. The first six HTTs are already on...
Read the post »
Teaching Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
28 November 2007
Fawzia Sheikh, 'Afghanistan: Teaching Counterinsurgency - Too Little, Too Late', Inter Press Service, 27 November 2007
EXCERPT: "Following pressure from top American military officials, the Afghanistan Counterinsurgency [COIN] Academy opened in April nearly six years after the invasion of Afghanistan... The school aims to teach counterinsurgency practices to newly arrived Western trainers sent to embed with the Afghan security...
Read the post »
War Crimes Case Weighs on Poland
28 November 2007
Nicholas Kulish, '', International Herald Tribune, 28 November 2007
"At a crucial juncture for both the newly elected government's commitment to overseas military engagements and the ongoing reform of the nation's armed forces, Poland faces its first war-crimes prosecution in memory. Seven Polish soldiers sit in a military jail in Poznan accused of , including women and children,...
Read the post »
Developing a 'Conflict-Sensitive' Counter-Narcotics Policy
28 November 2007
Barnett R. Rubin and Alexandra Gu?queta, '', Dialogue on Globalization Occasional Paper No. 37, November 2007
ABSTRACT: "A frequently overlooked feature of the fight against drugs is the linkages between the production of illegal narcotics and the political dynamics in post-conflict countries. and Colombia are cases in...
Read the post »
Facing Resistance from Kabul, Allies, US Shelves Eradication Policy
28 November 2007
Mark John, 'No Afghan Opium Spraying from Air for Now -US', Reuters AlertNet, 28 November 2007
"The United States has shelved a for next year's Afghan to be sprayed with herbicide from the air after opposition from President Hamid Karzai's government, a senior U.S official said on Wednesday. [...] Aerial spraying... has run into broad resistance from Afghan officials, the U.S. Congress and Defense Department,...
Read the post »
NATO Seeking Help from Muslim Nations to Train Afghan Army
28 November 2007
'', International Herald Tribune, 28 November 2007
EXCERPT: "NATO is seeking contributions from Muslim nations for its military force in Afghanistan, hoping Arab nations in North Africa and the Middle East could help for the fight against the Taliban. [...] U.S. Gen. John Craddock, the supreme allied commander for operations "told a think tank dinner...
Read the post »