In 2010, U.S. Special Operations Forces began a new program to fight the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the Village Stability Operations/Afghan Local Police Initiative. The initiative embedded Army Special Forces and Navy SEAL teams in villages throughout Afghanistan, moving from a top-down to a bottom-up strategy to provide security.
In his new book In The Warlords’ Shadow: Special Operations Forces, the Afghans, and their Fight Against the Taliban, Daniel R. Green provides a first-hand account of how the initiative functioned in practice.
Green is a Defense Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is a reserve officer with the U.S. Navy and most recently served in Iraq (2015-2016) as a tribal and political engagement officer in Baghdad. Since 2001, he has held several senior advisory positions dealing with the Middle East, Central Asia, and NATO/Europe in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the State Department.
In addition to his latest book In The Warlords’ Shadow, he has two other books: The Valley’s Edge: A Year with the Pashtuns in the Heartland of the Taliban and Fallujah Redux: The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle with al-Qaeda.
Follow the discussion online using #AfghanSOF and following @NewAmericaISP.
Participant:
Daniel R. Green
Defense Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Author, In The Warlords’ Shadow: Special Operations Forces, the Afghans, and their Fight Against the Taliban
Moderator:
John Dempsey
Fellow, New America International Security Program
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