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Cooperation. Coherence. Compassion. @AmiraJadoon @abdsayedd and I discuss three principles for a smaller and smarter counterterrorism mission in #Afghanistan- #Pakistan region 1/10 https://newlinesinstitute.org/afghanistan/smaller-and-smarter-defining-a-narrower-u-s-counterterrorism-mission-in-the-afghanistan-pakistan-region/
Impt. to remember that the terrorism landscape has changed dramatically in 20 years. Good CT policy needs a solid understanding of those changes, esp. links b/w transnational and national militant groups. We look briefly at major groups like AQ, TTP, ISKP, and LeJ.
Another major change has been the improved CT capacities of AFG & PAK gov.'s. Long way still to go, as evidenced by @JJSchroden and others, but accurately ID'ing positive developments and remaining gaps in U.S. partner forces' capacities is key https://ctc.usma.edu/afghanistans-security-forces-versus-the-taliban-a-net-assessment/
Many other factors to consider that don't fit in a ~1500-word piece, but a smaller and smarter CT mission should keep three principles at the helm: 1) cooperation, 2) coherence, and 3) compassion.
1) Cooperation. Good work still to be done with regional and international partners, both through traditional forums like #NATO and newer security mechanisms like the Quadrilateral Coordination Group. To advance narrower CT objectives like stemming cross-border militant...
... recruitment, successful coordination across a range of stakeholders is crucial.
2) Coherence. Arguments about the "age of great power competition" and counterterrorism often pit the two against each other in zero sum terms. But the two are delicately intertwined, and often practically inseparable @Sam_J_Mullins https://www.justsecurity.org/72811/great-power-competition-versus-counterterrorism-a-false-dichotomy/
Narrower CT objectives should cohere to broader strategies of great power competition. Take optimizing the Afghan air, army, and police forces. https://www.lawfareblog.com/afghanistan-will-be-biden-administrations-first-foreign-policy-crisis By no means a simple task, but helps build a Kabul gov. that is less reliant on int'l support...
and more capable of countering a variety of terrorist threats.
3) Compassion. Not often a word that makes its way into the discussion, but the Afghan people have suffered under war for decades, and now confront the costs of a global pandemic too. Meaningful, measurable, and observable steps must be taken to mitigate civilian harm...
inflicted by state and non-state actors. As the Biden team prepares its path forward, compassion must be front and center of their evaluation. Consistency > Expediency
