S12: Counterinsurgency

Question 1

What is COIN? (Counterinsurgency Operations)

Answer 1

Counterinsurgency is military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency (FM3-24)

Question 2

What was the counterinsurgency strategy used in Afghanistan?

Answer 2

1.Population centric
-Winning Hearts and Minds (WHAM)
-“Population is the prize”
-Clear, Hold, Build: Increase the government’s legitimacy
-Kinetic and non-kinetic

Question 3

Name two assumptions COIN relied on

Answer 3

1. Insurgents are fluid, always on the move, the population is static. Because of that they are fluid they can not be destroyed
   -Criticism: who is an insurgent? the wife of the terrorist, the brother?
2. Population is controllable (winning hearts and minds). its about respect not friendship.

Question 4

Was COIN an investment trap?

Answer 4

-Sunken cost fallacy, it was too costly to give up after such a long time.
-The idea was to make one last push before withdrawal
-Military rarely wants to engage, because war is violent and deadly. But when they are present, they do not want to leave without victory

Question 5

Was COIN too ambitious?

Answer 5

-The goals were vague, there were no clear goals, confusion among members. NO initial goal really
-Taliban members lived among villagers, so when the military left, the Taliban was in power again.
-COIN assumed the political landscaped could be changed