Beltway Confidential

Yes, leave COIN behind

By Daniel DePetris
Published June 5, 2021 10:00am ET
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Yes, leave COIN behind
FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, an Afghan solider, left, stands guard at the scene of a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan. Helmand was the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's surge, when he ordered 33,000 additional U.S troops to Afghanistan to help the military with a counterinsurgency plan. That plan hoped to turn the tide in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar and establish the governmental institutions that would allow the Afghan government to take control of the Taliban heartland. However, near-daily attacks by militants and increasingly frequent deadly violence against NATO troops by their Afghan allies highlight an embarrassing failure of Western policy: After nearly 12 years of military intervention, the country is not pacified. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq, File) | Abdul Khaleq

Whatever you may think of the Biden administration’s $753 billion defense budget request, one thing is certain: After two decades of headaches and sunk costs associated with small wars and insurgencies in the Middle East, the U.S. military is moving away from the counterinsurgency business.

China, rather than failing states in Iraq and Afghanistan, is now the Defense Department’s top concern.

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Afghanistan China Iraq Iraq War