1.
by
Lambeth, Benjamin S.
Call Number
958.1046 22
Publication Date
2005
Summary
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 plunged the United States into a determined counteroffensive against Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network. This report details the initial U.S. military response to those attacks, namely, the destruction of al Qaeda's terrorist infrastructure and the removal of the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It first outlines the efforts of the Bush administration to prepare for war, including pulling together an effective coalition, crafting a war strategy, moving forces and materiel to the region, forging alliances with indigenous anti-Taliban elements in Afghanistan, laying the groundwork for a target-approval process, and planning for humanitarian relief operations. It then follows the unfolding of Operation Enduring Freedom from its beginning, starting with air strikes against Taliban early warning radars, airfields, ground force facilities, and other fixed targets. The author also explains how allied Special Operations Forces (SOF) were successfully inserted into Afghanistan and how those forces, enabled by U.S. air power, were eventually able to work with indigenous friendly Afghan fighters in defeating and routing the Taliban. He then outlines problems that were later encountered in Operation Anaconda- an initiative by U.S. Army forces to push into the high mountains of Afghanistan where hard-core al Qaeda holdouts were known to be regrouping. This was to be a conventional ground force operation, but unexpected resistance and resultant fierce fighting required the emergency summoning of fixed-wing air power. This air involvement proved pivotal in producing a successful outcome and, in hindsight, pointed to the failure of Operation Anaconda's planners to make the most of the potential synergy of air, space, and land power that was available to them. The author describes some of the friction and conflicts that arose within U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) over how best to use air power in the war. Perhaps the most serious inefficiency had to do with strict rules of engagement and a resultant target-approval bottleneck at CENTCOM that often allowed many important but fleeting attack opportunities to slip away. The author emphasizes, however, several distinctive achievements in this war, including the use of SOF-enabled precision weapons that were effective irrespective of weather, the first combat use of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles armed with Hellfire missiles, and the integrated employment of high-altitude drones and other air- and space-based sensors that gave CENTCOM unprecedented round-the-clock awareness of enemy activity.
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4.8911
by
Ussery, Easton H.
Call Number
958.1047 22
Publication Date
2010
Format:
Electronic Resources
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4.6810
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by
Foster, Kevin, author.
Call Number
958.1047 23
Publication Date
2013
Format:
Electronic Resources
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4.4370
by
Rynning, Sten, 1967-
Call Number
958.1047 23
Publication Date
2012
Format:
Electronic Resources
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3.9952
by
Rubin, Barnett R.
Call Number
958.104 23
Publication Date
2013
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Electronic Resources
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3.9196
by
Farrell, Theo, 1967- editor.
Call Number
958.10474 23
Publication Date
2013
Summary
When NATO took charge of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan in 2003, ISAF conceptualized its mission largely as a stabilization and reconstruction deployment. However, as the campaign has evolved and the insurgency has proved to more resistant and capable, key operational imperatives have emerged, including military support to the civilian development effort, closer partnering with Afghan security forces, and greater military restraint. All participating militaries have adapted, to varying extents, to these campaign imperatives and pressures. This bo.
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3.8026
by
Gearing, Ryan.
Call Number
821.92080358581047 23
Publication Date
2011
Summary
This brand new anthology has been compiled to commemorate 10 years in Afghanistan. Announced in November 2010, contributions for a book of war poems were sought, and aided by appeals in the media, including BFBS Radio, the Army Families Federation and the charity Combat Stress, to name but a few; poems came from serving personnel of all ranks, veterans, families and friends.
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3.4106
by
Sedra, Mark.
Call Number
958.1046
Publication Date
2008
Summary
Many have questioned the wisdom of the international intervention in Afghanistan in light of the escalation of violence and instability in the country in the past few years. Particularly uncertain are Canadians, who have been inundated with media coverage of an increasingly dirty war in southern Afghanistan, one in which Canadians are at the frontline and suffering heavy casualties. However, the conflict is only one aspect of Afghanistan's complicated, and incomplete, political, economic, and security transition. In Afghanistan: Transition under Threat, leading Afghanistan scholars and prac.
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3.3542
by
Oliker, Olga.
Call Number
958.1047 22
Publication Date
2004
Summary
Description and evaluation of relief, reconstruction, humanitarian, and humanitarian-type aid efforts in Afghanistan during the most intense phase of military operations, from September 2001 to June 2002. The efforts were generally successful, but there were serious coordination problems among the various civilian and military aid providers. Critical issues, both positive and negative, are identified, and a list of recommendations is provided for policymakers, implementers, and aid providers, based on lessons learned.
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Electronic Resources
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3.1660
by
Johnson, Thomas H.
Call Number
958.10471 23
Publication Date
2014
Summary
The authors of Culture, Conflict and Counterinsurgency contend that an enduring victory can still be achieved in Afghanistan. However, to secure it we must better understand the cultural foundations of the continuing conflicts that rage across Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and shift our strategy from an attritional engagement to a smarter war plan that embraces these cultural dimensions. They examine the nexus of culture, conflict, and strategic intervention, and attempt to establish if culture is important in a national security and foreign policy context, and to explore how cultural phenomena and information can best be used by the military. In the process they address just how intimate cultural knowledge needs to be to counter an insurgency effectively. Finally, they establish exactly how good we've been at building and utilizing cultural understanding in Afghanistan, what the operational impact of that understanding has been, and where we must improve to maximize our use of cultural knowledge in preparing for and engaging in future conflicts.--
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3.0359
by
Friedman, Brandon, 1978-
Call Number
956.70443092 23
Publication Date
2010
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Electronic Resources
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3.0088
by
Kolenda, Christopher D.
Call Number
355.35573 23
Publication Date
2021
Summary
Why have the major, post-9/11, US military interventions turned into quagmires? Despite huge power imbalances, major capacity-building efforts, and repeated tactical victories by what many observers call the world's best military, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq turned bloody and intractable. The US government's fixation on zero-sum decisive victory is an important part of the explanation why successful military operations to overthrow two developing-world regimes failed to achieve favorable and durable outcomes. In 'Zero-Sum Victory', Christopher D. Kolenda identifies three interrelated problems that have emerged from the government's insistence on a zero-sum victory.
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2.9020
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