The answers for Afghanistan are pretty damn simple -- and here they are, guys

Here they are.

Why COIN is hard (part CXVIII)

Here is a great exchange between an American officer and an Afghan elder recorded by the estimable David Wood:

...

Environment key to U.S. security-Congress briefing

"Whether it is climate change, whether it is disruption of the environment in other ways ... we're going to see more failed and incapable states."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22261470.htm

Reviewing ten years of war against poverty

Kate Higgins is a Research Fellow with the Growth and Equity Programme at the Overseas Development Institute. She is based in Sydney.

Read it here.

Afghanistan: Lost in translation