Post-2014 Afghanistan & the Looming Consequences of Strategic Misappreciation

The fast-moving events of Syria and Iraq in 2014 demonstrated the enormous risk to U.S. security interests when America and its allies have too little intelligence presence or operational agility in an area rife with insurgency and terrorist outfits. The United States cannot “fix” the region or eliminate the major challenges to security most dominant within Afghanistan. However, America can be better postured to support the already faltering Afghan National Security Force, better aware of the rapidly evolving jihadist militant milieu in the Af-Pak region, and better informed than it might otherwise be about the evolving nature of Indo-Pakistani proxy hostilities playing out across the border region. The promised post-2014 U.S./NATO military presence is insufficient to meet these major requirements.