Recent Publications - Tag counterinsurgency

Book Review: Training for Victory: U.S. Special Forces Advisory Operations from El Salvador to Afghanistan
April 15, 2026 — What makes some US Special Forces advisory missions succeed while others fail? In Training for Victory, Frank K. Sobchak examines five decades of elite Green Beret operations—from El Salvador to Afghanistan—to uncover the critical factors behind building effective partner forces. Challenging conventional wisdom, this book reveals surprising truths about language, culture, and combat advising in America’s most complex wars... MORE

Cover of Training for Victory: U.S. Special Forces Advisory Operations from El Salvador to Afghanistan by Frank K. Sobchak

Book Review: Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice
April 8, 2025 — Today’s force still has plenty to learn about counterinsurgency from Operation Desert Storm. John Nagl’s Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice “a book about counterinsurgency and its journey from the far periphery of US military doctrine to its center, for better and, some would argue, for worse.” The reviewer notes, Nagl’s work “provides a tangible example of the impact junior leaders can have on the service.”... MORE

Cover for Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice

The Strategic Use of Force in Counterinsurgency: Find, Fix, Fight
May 16, 2023 — Military History Book Review: The Strategic Use of Force in Counterinsurgency: Find, Fix, Fight Author: Miles Kitts | Reviewed by Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz, professor of international relations and comparative politics, Georgia Southern University, and visiting professor, Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College | Focusing on the... MORE

Irregular Warfare
Book Review: The Strategic Use of Force in Counterinsurgency: Find, Fix, Fight
Author: Miles Kitts
Reviewed by Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz, professor of international relations and comparative politics, Georgia Southern University, and visiting professor, Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College

Focusing on the use of force and insurgency, the reviewer assesses the author’s question, “Does either neoclassicism or revisionism adequately address how to evaluate the utility of force in counterinsurgency and the prescriptions which should come from it?”

Keywords: counterinsurgency, Parmenidean fallacy, Cold War, strategy, reflective action

Read Now: https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters_bookshelf/10

“Counterinsurgency Lessons for Cyber Conflict”
April 26, 2022 — The lessons of counterinsurgency have deeper implications for cyber conflict than previous research has identified. Two decades of experience in Iraq and Afghanistan provide insights into the cyber strategy of defending forward including treating major cybersecurity and technology companies as host-nation partners and focusing on winning the hearts and minds of global netizens... MORE

“What Went Wrong in Afghanistan”
January 24, 2022 — Critics of the Afghan war have claimed it was always unwinnable. This article argues the war was unwinnable the way it was fought and posits an alternative based on the Afghan way of war and the US approach to counterinsurgency in El Salvador during the final decade of the Cold War. Respecting the political and military dictates of strategy could have made America’s longest foreign war unnecessary and is a warning for the wars we will fight in the future... MORE

Parameters VOL. 51 NO. 2 Summer 2021
August 17, 2021 — Parameters Summer 2021Download the Full IssueIn Focus: "Senior Leader Dissent", Conrad C. Crane; "Two Sides of COIN", M. Chris Mason and Darren Colby; "Allies and Partners", Jean-Yves Haine, Cynthia Salloum, Tongifi Kim, Luis Simon; "Strategy and Doctrine", Austin C. Doctor, James Walsh, Ann Mezzell, J. Wesley Hutto, Robert S. Ehlers Jr., Partrick... MORE

Cover for Parameters VOL. 51 NO. 2 Summer 2021

“COIN Doctrine Is Wrong”
June 28, 2021 — Counterinsurgency does not increase the legitimacy of, or support for, central governments engaged in internal conflicts. Recent research shows quantifiable degrees of government legitimacy, national identity, and population security are necessary precursors and accurate predictors of a government’s ability to outlast a civil uprising. Because the first two predictors—government legitimacy and national identity—can be measured and do not increase during a conflict... MORE

Recommendations for Success in Afghanistan
July 23, 2019 — Author: Dr M. Chris MasonView the Executive Summary The United States will soon enter the 18th year of combat operations in Afghanistan. During that time, multiple approaches to stabilize the country have been tried, including support to regional security initiatives, “nation-building,” counterinsurgency, counternarcotics, counterterrorism, and... MORE

Cover for Recommendations for Success in Afghanistan

Exit Strategy: Rule of Law and the U.S. Army
September 25, 2018 — Author: Dr Shima D KeeneView the Executive SummaryEstablishing the rule of law is a key goal and end state in counterinsurgency (COIN) operations and is a critical aspect of securing peace and preventing future conflict. However, recent experience in theaters such as Afghanistan has shown that establishing effective rule of law institutions and... MORE

Parameters VOL. 47 NO. 3 Autumn 2017
November 30, 2017 — Editor: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II FEATURES: Special Commentary. Limits of Negative Peace, Faces of Positive Peace — Patricia M. Shields. A Wake for Counterinsurgency? Abandoning Counterinsurgency: Reviving Antiterrorism Strategy—Steven Metz.Insurgent Defectors in Counterinsurgencies—Jacqueline L. Hazelton. War among (& for) the People. Rethinking... MORE

Parameters VOL. 47 NO. 2 SUMMER 2017
August 28, 2017 — Editor: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II The Summer issue of Parameters opens with an essay by Sir Lawrence Freedman entitled “Beyond Surprise Attack.” Surprise, argues Freedman, can come in any number of forms, and sometimes those that come in the middle or end of a campaign prove the most decisive.Our first forum, Reevaluating Diplomatic & Military... MORE

The COIN Conundrum: The Future of Counterinsurgency and U.S. Land Power
December 14, 2016 — Author: Dr Thomas R MockaitisView the Executive SummaryCounterinsurgency (COIN) continues to be a controversial subject among military leaders. Critics argue that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made the U.S. military, particularly the Army, "COIN-centric." They maintain that equipping U.S. forces to combat insurgency has eroded their... MORE