Episode 23: Part 1: Afghanistan - The Endless Wars?

Profiles in Strategy

For this next case we are going to have three segments (or parts) on each of the major theaters discussed in the case - Afghanistan, Iraq and ISIS. We are also going to leverage our military professors of the Strategy and Policy Department and their on-the-ground practitioner experience in these conflicts. In this part, Jon O'Gorman hosts Marc Genest, Michael Shaw, and Patrick McCarthy on the Afghanistan theater. They discuss their thoughts about the end in Afghanistan, and whether or not the U.S. understood the nature of the war. They also look at the parallels to Vietnam and if those parallels are oversold. They look at the conflict through the institutional dimension of strategy lens and if our own bureaucracy hinders our success in these types of conflicts. Additionally, they discuss if the conflict has harmed civilian-military relations in the U.S. Finally, that talk about key takeaways.