by David Loyn
9 Ibid.; Kindle loc 2082.
10 Ibid.; Kindle loc 2161.
11 Letter to Princeton colleague; Broadwell, Paula; All In—The Education of David Petraeus; Penguin; 2012; p68.
12 Broadwell; p67.
13 Petraeus, David H.; The Lessons of History and the Lessons of Vietnam; Parameters; U.S. Army War College; autumn 1986.
14 Broadwell; p67.
15 Petraeus Ph.D.; Princeton; 1987.
16 Broadwell; p153.
17 Galula, David; Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice; RAND; 1964; p63.
18 Mattis and West; p154.
19 McChrystal; MYSOT; p129.
20 Mattis and West; p124.
21 McChrystal; MYSOT; p131.
22 Packer, George; “The Lesson of Tal Afar”; New Yorker; April 10, 2006.
23 Sorley, Lewis; A Better War—The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedies of America’s Last Years in Vietnam; Harcourt; 1999; p199.
24 Loyn, David; In Afghanistan—Two Hundred Years of British, Russian and American Occupation; Palgrave Macmillan; 2009; p121. The phrase was first used by Sir Robert Sandeman in Baluchistan, on the Afghan frontier, in the 1870s.
25 In the Petraeus doctrine, this became “The Host Nation Doing Something Tolerably Is Normally Better than Us Doing It Well.”
26 Mattis and West; p154.
27 Ricks, Thomas; The Gamble; Penguin; 2009; Kindle loc 579.
28 Eikenberry, Karl; Foreign Affairs; September/October 2013.
29 Galula; Counterinsurgency Warfare; introduction by Nagl, John A. in PSI Classics edition; 2006; viii.
30 Petraeus author interview. He used the phrase three times in the interview.
31 Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, quoted in Gamble; Kindle loc 1909.
32 Pentagon Press Briefing; October 1, 2008.
33 Author interview with senior U.S. officer on background.
34 Ibid.
35 McKiernan, David; Atlantic Alliance speech, November 2008; https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/transcript/transcript-general-david-mckiernan-speaks-at-councils-commanders-series/.
36 Interview with the author for BBC News; May 27, 2009.
37 Eide, Kai; Power Struggle Over Afghanistan; Skyhorse; 2012; p118.
38 Cockburn, Patrick; Independent; September 15, 2008.
39 http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/mediaadvisory/2008/09-september/ma080904–053.html.
40 Author interview with Umer Daudzai, Karzai’s chief of staff.
41 Gall, Carlotta; The Wrong Enemy; Penguin 2014; p103.
42 Eide, Kai; Power Struggle Over Afghanistan; Skyhorse; 2012; p60.
43 North, Oliver; Report from a Forgotten War; Creators Syndicate Inc.; August 28, 2008.
44 Gall, Carlotta; New York Times; September 7, 2008; https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/world/asia/08afghan.html.
45 Eide; p61.
46 Ibid.; p70.
47 Ibid.; p72.
48 Murphy, Brett; USA TODAY; January 1, 2020; https://eu.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/01/09/reporters-notebook-afghanistan/2820013001.
49 Eide; p69.
50 Ibid.; p68.
51 Author interview with Karzai.
52 Author interview wit Daudzai.
53 Author interview with Karzai.
54 Woodward, Bob; Obama’s Wars; Simon & Schuster; 2010; p70.
55 Neumann, Ronald E.; “Failed Relations between Hamid Karzai and the United States”; United States Institute of Peace; May 2015; www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR373-Failed-Relations-between-Hamid-Karzai-and-the-United-States.pdf.
56 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 8379.
CHAPTER 7: OBAMA’S WAR
1 https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/foreign-policy/presidents-speech-cairo-a-new-beginning.
2 This was best expressed by Henry Kissinger, in his famous line that “the conventional army loses if it does not win; the guerrilla wins if he does not lose.”
3 Dobbins, James, Jones, Seth G., Crane, Keith, and Cole DeGrasse, Beth; The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building; RAND; 2008; p38.
4 Eikenberry, Karl; Foreign Affairs; September/October 2013.
5 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 3973. Jones had been Supreme Allied Commander Europe when ISAF took over the whole of Afghanistan in 2006 and knew the country well.
6 Malkasian, Carter; War Comes to Garmser—Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier; Hurst; 2013; p127.
7 Waldman, Matt; Sun in the Sky; 2010; https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08b0c40f0b652dd000a78/DP18.pdf.
8 New York Times; July 15, 2008; https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/us/politics/15text-obama.html
9 Obama, Barack; A Promised Land; Penguin Books Ltd.; 2020; Kindle edition; p414.
10 Insurgencies and Countering Insurgencies; FM 3–24; December 15, 2006; https://armypubs.army.mil/ProductMaps/PubForm/Details.aspx?PUB_ID=83748.
11 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 3870.
12 McChrystal; MYSOT; p286.
13 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6014.
14 Ibid.; Kindle loc 6599.
15 Waltz; p218.
16 Lute interview; George W. Bush oral history project; p37; https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/george-w-bush-oral-history.
17 Waltz; p220.
18 Author interview.
19 Riedel; Kindle loc 1680.
20 It is hard to find the original source of this. It was widely repeated and became the title of a book by Carlotta Gall.
21 https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-new-strategy-afghanistan-and-pakistan.
22 Fair, C.Christine; Time For Sober Realism—Renegotiating U.S. Relations with Pakistan; The Washington Quarterly; 2009, Issue 2; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01636600902775680.
23 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6179.
24 Lessons from the U.S. Civilian Surge in Afghanistan, 2009–2014; Graduate Policy Workshop; Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; January 2016 https://spia.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/591f_Final_20160208.pdf.
25 Waltz; p238.
26 Ibid.; p240.
27 Meacheam, John; Obama interview; Newsweek; May 25, 2009; https://www.newsweek.com/qa-obama-dick-cheney-war-and-star-trek-79715.
28 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; p83.
29 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6118.
30 Ibid.; Kindle loc 6120.
31 Ibid.; Kindle loc 3716.
32 Kaplan, Fred; Slate; August 4 2008; https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2008/08/finally-the-army-is-promoting-the-right-officers.html
33 Casey himself had been moved out of Iraq in 2007 in favor a “new strategy” introduced by Petraeus. But it did not damage his career.
34 Pentagon press conference; October 3, 2008.
35 McKiernan, David; ISAF commander’s counterinsurgency guidance 2008.
36 Farnan, Paul; Washington Post; May 25, 2009; https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR2009052401995.html.
37 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6131.
38 Ibid.; Kindle loc 3670.
39 McChrystal; MYSOT; p279.
40 Barnett, Thomas P.; Esquire; April 2008.
41 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6146.
42 Author interview.
43 U.S. CENTCOM’s unclassified executive summary; June 18, 2009; https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=35748. In contrast to the Azizabad incident early in his command, McKiernan was able to send U.S. investigators to the scene the following day.
44 I
gnatius, David; Washington Post; May 15, 2009; https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051203039.html.
45 Kaplan, Fred; Slate; May 11, 2009; https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/05/the-ouster-of-afghanistan-commander-david-mckiernan-could-make-or-break-the-obama-presidency.html.
46 Sullivan, Charles S. “Duff”; The Air Commanders’ Perspectives; Air University Press; November 2014.
47 Department of Defense press conference; May 12, 2009.
48 Author interview.
49 Associated Press; April 10, 2009.
50 Department of Defense press conference; May 12, 2009.
CHAPTER 8: OWNING THE VILLAGES
1 Second Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
2 McChrystal; MYSOT; p295. He failed to close the garden.
3 Martin, David; “McChrystal’s Frank Talk on Afghanistan”;60 Minutes; CBS; September 24, 2009; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcchrystals-frank-talk-on-afghanistan.
4 Kaplan, Robert D.; Atlantic; March 9, 2010; https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/04/man-versus-afghanistan/307983/.
5 McChrystal; MYSOT; p150.
6 60 Minutes; September 24, 2009.
7 McChrystal; MYSOT; p380.
8 Brand, Matthew C.; General McChrystal’s Strategic Assessment; Air University Press; 2011.
9 McChrystal; MYSOT; p277.
10 Author interview with McChrystal.
11 McChrystal; MYSOT; p288.
12 Franks; p280.
13 Rose Garden speech; March 27, 2009; https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-a-new-strategy-afghanistan-and-pakistan.
14 Obama; A Promised Land; p417.
15 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; Kindle loc 4012.
16 Ibid.; Kindle loc 2573.
17 Packer, George; Our Man—Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century; Jonathan Cape; 2019; p472.
18 Obama; A Promised Land; p418.
19 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; Kindle loc 2172.
20 Gerson, Michael; Real Clear Politics; September 4, 2009; https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/04/in_afghanistan_no_choice_but_to_try.html.
21 Author interview with Petraeus.
22 McChrystal; MYSOT; p344
23 Obama; A Promised Land; p558.
24 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6589.
25 Coll; p366.
26 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; p146.
27 Offense and Defense; Army Doctrine Publication 3–90; Headquarters Department of the Army; 2019.
28 McChrystal; MYSOT; p350.
29 Brand, Matthew C.; General McChrystal’s Strategic Assessment; Air University; p13.
30 McChrystal speech in London; January 9, 2019; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CbvkfAhnNI.
31 McChrystal; MYSOT; p352.
32 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; Kindle loc 2747.
33 MacAskill, Ewan; Guardian; November 12, 2009; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/12/obama-us-troops-afghanistan-kilcullen.
34 Author interview with Petraeus.
35 Author interview with Eggers.
36 60 Minutes; CBS; September 24, 2009.
37 Spillius, Alex; “White House angry at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan”; Daily Telegraph; October 5, 2009; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/6259582/White-House-angry-at-General-Stanley-McChrystal-speech-on-Afghanistan.html.
38 Obama; A Promised Land; p559; and Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6562.
39 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; p175.
40 Landler, Mark and Zeleny, Jeff; New York Times; November 12, 2009; https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/world/asia/13eikenberry.html.
41 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6772.
42 Hastings; Rolling Stone; June 22, 2010.
43 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 8762.
44 This was the same figure calculated by McNeill’s staff in 2007 when the Petraeus/Mattis FM 3–24 manual came out; see chapter 5.
45 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; p325.
46 McChrystal; MYSOT; p345.
47 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6828.
48 Obama; A Promised Land; p563.
49 Woodward; Obama’s Wars; p327.
50 Ibid.; p290.
51 West Point speech; Dec 1 2009; https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/12/01/new-way-forward-presidents-address.
52 McChrystal; MYSOT; p361.
53 LA Times; November 22, 2008.
54 Malkasian; War Comes to Garmser; p125.
55 Chandrasekaran, Rajiv; Little America—The War Within the War for Afghanistan; Bloomsbury; 2012; p63.
56 Gates; Duty; Kindle loc 6046.
57 Chandrasekaran; p65.
58 McChrystal; MYSOT; p313.
59 Ibid.; p310.
60 Elliott, Justin; Muckraker; April 2, 2010; https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/gen-mcchrystal-we-ve-shot-an-amazing-number-of-people-who-were-em-not-em-threats.
61 Author interview with Karzai.
62 McChrystal; MYSOT; p372.
63 Ibid.; p372.
64 Author interview with McChrystal.
65 Author interview with Carter.
66 McChrystal; MYSOT; p368.
67 Farrell; p311.
68 Chandrasekaran; p143.
69 SMA had an extraordinary capacity to get into diplomatic events and had photographs with several of the ISAF commanders.
70 Author interview with USAID official.
71 Reported by the author for BBC News.
72 Investing in the Fight: Assessing the Use of the Commander’s Emergency Response Program in Afghanistan; RAND; 2016.
73 Author interview with McChrystal.
74 Author interview with McChrystal.
75 McChrystal; MYSOT; p328.
76 Among the lessons learned by the deployment was the unintended economic impact on Clarksville, Tennessee, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, the two towns neighboring the camp, when fifteen thousand people went away for a year.
77 Raddatz, Martha; ABC News; July 6, 2010; https://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/major-general-john-campbell-escalating-violence-war-afghanistan/story?id=11094971.
78 Subject of a feature film: The Outpost.
79 Army AR 15–6 investigation report; October 6, 2009.
80 Junger; New York Times; April 20, 2010.
81 George W. Bush Oral History Project interview.
82 Farwell, Matt, and Ames, Michael; American Cipher—One Soldier’s Nightmare in the Afghanistan War; Wildfire; 2019; Kindle loc 609.
83 Tunnell, Harry D.; Red Devils; Combat Studies Institute Press; 2004; p52
84 Military Times; March 23, 2013; https://www.militarytimes.com/2013/03/27/report-blames-lapses-on-stryker-commander-532-page-report-finds-colonel-ignored-doctrine-proper-procedure-in-leading-undisciplined-bct.
85 Chandrasekaran; pp152–161.
86 Military Times; March 23, 2013.
87 Author interview with Carter.
88 Malkasian; War Comes to Garmser; p166.
89 McChrystal; MYSOT; p317.
90 Christian Science Monitor; April 8, 2010; https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/0408/US-military-offers-sheep-in-apology-for-Afghanistan-deaths.