The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 is associated with a rapid collapse of the Afghan economy. In lieu of official data, attempts…

News reports of political violence are systematically compiled into large global conflict-event datasets used by academics, governments, and…

On August 15, 2021, a spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban’s self-
proclaimed state, declared on Twitter: “With the help of God, and the support of the nation, we are now in control of all parts of the country. We would like to congratulate our nation on this
big achievement.” After 20 years of conflict with U.S. and NATO coalition forces, no one
predicted the speed with which the Taliban would consolidate power and precipitate the collapse
of the Afghan government and military.

In the past twenty years, during the US-led post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a million members of the National Guard have deployed to those two combat zones. Throughout that period, soldiers and airmen from the Army and Air National Guard have also played a vital role in responding to a remarkably wide range of emergencies at home, from wildfires and hurricanes to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those dual missions—serving both as a key source of combat capability for the joint force and as a resource in times of need in American communities—set the National Guard apart as a military force. But that isn’t the Guard’s only fundamentally unique quality.

What lessons should the United States military take from twenty years of war in Afghanistan? Episode 35 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast focuses on US efforts in the Pech valley, where the United States waged an enduring counterinsurgency and counterterrorism campaign over many years. Though the conversation focuses on this valley, our guests argue that the Pech represents a microcosm of the broader US war effort in Afghanistan, and that the collapse of the Afghan government following the withdrawal of US forces from the country in August 2021 was foreseeable by looking at what happened in the Pech valley after US forces withdrew years earlier.

US Army Special Forces units continued to quietly operate in Afghanistan when conventional troops withdrew around 2015. These soldiers have worked closely with Afghan commandos and government partners to hold the hard-won and fragile stability. What happens when they leave the country this summer? How has this war continued unnoticed by the American people and what was the role of the media, the military, and policymakers in building a better public awareness of ongoing operations in Afghanistan?

Special operations forces have been a favorite national security tool in the post-9/11 era; wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have consumed their attention and kept the special operations community focused on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency missions. However, the release of the 2017 National Security Strategy pivoted the United States’ strategic focus from terrorism to near-peer competitors China and Russia. What will be the role of special operations forces (SOF) in this era of great power competition? Where is SOF falling short in the shift to meet this new focus area?

In this episode of the Irregular Warfare Podcast, Shawna Sinnott and Kyle Atwell discuss the history and context of proxy and partner warfare in the Middle East with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Dr. Eli Berman. This is the second installment of a two-part discussion on fighting irregular warfare through proxy forces.

President Trump’s announcement of further troop reductions in Afghanistan raises a substantive question. To what end are US forces engaged at all…

In emerging democracies, elections are encouraged as a route to democratization. However, not only does violence often threaten these elections,…

We are pleased to share the Woodrow Wilson School’s new press release concerning findings from our recently completed study,…

This Report presents evidence on the relationship between violent conflict and the industrial organization of firms and entrepreneurial decision-…

One-fifth of the world's population lives in countries affected by fragility, violence and conflict, impeding long-term economic growth. However,…

The way wars are fought has changed starkly over the past sixty years. International military campaigns used to play out between large armies at…

After billions of dollars and decades of investment in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, practitioners, policymakers and academics are still…

Military commanders in wartime have moral obligations to abide by international norms and humanitarian laws governing their treatment of…

To provide evidence about which programs best foster stability in fragile and conflict-affected areas we systematically review the relationship…

This USIP Special Report, written by Ethan B. Kapstein, addresses the lack of clarity on which programs best foster stability in fragile and…

As of 2011, 73 percent of active component soldiers in the U.S. Army had deployed…

Findings in political science, economics, and security studies suggest that during civil war aid can be used to help establish control of…