Afghanistan: Four Phases of Lessons Learned

摘要

A complete analysis of ISAF's combat commitment within Afghanistan is impossible to summarise in a single article; but, by focusing on specific campaign factors, some lessons for the future can be discerned while a little more time remains with "boots on the ground." When US and British forces initiated OEF in October 2001, followed a couple of months later by the UN Security Council's decision to establish ISAF in Afghanistan, few at the time - particularly the politicians - would have believed that they would still be committed over 12 years later. The international force would peak at around 140,000 soldiers, over 100,000 of which were from the US and 10,000 from the UK. With the withdrawal now under way there is still a multinational force of around 80,000 soldiers within Afghanistan.