In the Warlords’ Shadow: Embracing New Strategies to Fight the War on Terror

As the Trump administration reviews its counterterrorism policies as well as its strategies in Afghanistan and Iraq, it should seek to apply the lessons of the Village Stability Operations/Afghan Local Police program, one of the most successful Special Operations programs in the war on terror. This initiative was developed by Special Operations Forces (SOF) in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban insurgency holistically and represents a sea change in how SOF thinks about and organizes itself to confront irregular forces. To discuss this initiative and how its tenets might be applied elsewhere in the region, The Washington Institute hosted Daniel R. Green and Gen. John R. Allen, USMC (Ret.) to review the development of the program, how it was informed by the Anbar Awakening in Iraq, and how it might be applied against Islamic State and al-Qaeda affiliates.