The War That Shall Not Be Named: Lessons from Afghanistan for the Army

Social Science of War

This episode looks back at twenty years of the US-led war in Afghanistan to find lessons for the US Army. How should the war inform the way we make strategy going forward? What are the keys to effective security force assistance? And is it possible to disrupt the US government's tendency to overmilitarize efforts from the tactical to the strategic level? Three guests join this episode to discuss these questions and more.

Retired Lieutenant General Doug Lute has had a long and distinguished career culminating in a series of senior positions, including US permanent representative to NATO, and is currently the Robert F. McNamara distinguished chair at West Point's Department of Social Sciences. Dr. Jason Lyall is an associate professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College, has conducted fieldwork in Afghanistan as a scholar, and is the author of the book Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance. And Major Sam Wilkins is a US Army Special Forces officer who served in Afghanistan, has written about the rise and fall of Village Stability Operations there, and currently teaches international affairs in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point.