The Combined Air Power Transition Force: Building Airpower for Afghanistan

摘要

Corum and Johnson have noted that "small wars are long wars." A constant re-ality that must inform any strategy for Af-rnghanistan is the possibility that the COIN struggle here may well outlast the staying power of Western governments. According to Nathaniel Fick and John Nagl, "Some of the best weapons do not shoot." Developing security capabilities within Afghanistan rather than attempting to wear down a determined insurgency from without is itself a kind of domestic development, enabling more visible measures such as making available electricity, water, jobs, and education. The two observations together suggest that the best investments we can make in Afghanistan are those that allow people to provide security and good governance for themselves after outside involvement has run its course.