Civil-Military Integration in Afghanistan. Creating Unity of Command

摘要

Last year, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman argued that the way forward in Afghanistan required 'a comprehensive civil military counterinsurgency approach.' The U.S. interagency community is answering the call. By mid-2010, there should be over 700 civilians deployed to complement the increase of U.S. troops to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) International Security Assistance Force (ISAF); however, the 'civilian surge' is only a first step toward success in a counterinsurgency (COIN) campaign. Next, the U.S. Government must integrate personnel into a unified civilian-military structure with clear command and control (C2) systems aligned with the government of Afghanistan and ISAF. Without unity of command throughout civilian and military organizations, there cannot be the unity of effort needed to support Afghanistan in defeating a ruthless insurgency.