Operations In Afghanistan Research Articles

NATO and Japan

Since the 9/11 attacks, Japan has entered a new period of co-operation with NATO – but little analysis in the English literature exists on this topic. There has been a swath of joint work, ranging from political engagement to military education and operations in Afghanistan. While partnership between a Pacific power and Atlantic military alliance might not seem obvious, in fact both have much to gain from this emerging relationship, argues Michito Tsuruoka.

Human Factors Concerning Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Future Operations

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) play increasingly important roles in many modern militaries. The proven success of UAS during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq has created a demand for UAS with va...

The Illusion of US Isolationism

As of September 2011, the United States was involved, at different levels, in military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. America has more than 700 military installations overseas, and its military expenses account for almost half of the world’s total . This substantial foreign engagement directly contradicts the United States’ self-professed isolationism in foreign policy. The concept of US isolationism dates back to the colonial days. Evidence for example can be found in Thomas Paine’s work, Common Sense (1776). It was then often reiterated by US leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, not long after America had gained its independence. Nowadays, characterizations of US foreign policy as isolationist are even further complicated if one moves beyond the field of military intervention and considers the thick web of economic, political, and cultural international relations existing among states. But what about past American foreign policy? Is it sensible to describe it as isolationist? This article analyzes US foreign policy rhetoric to suggest an answer to this inquiry.

Fleas on Operations in Afghanistan – Environmental Health Measures on the Front Line

Flea bites can cause irritating symptoms, secondary infections, and may potentiate the spread of vector-borne disease. Flea infestation and bites may also cause significant psychological distress, and can reduce the...

The Afghanistan Fracture Pan

258 J R Army Med Corps 157(3): 258 The Afghanistan Fracture Pan It is widely accepted that civilian trauma practices have benefited from military experience during conflict over many centuries....

Bringing ‘Nature of War’ into Irregular Warfare Strategy: Contemporary Applications of Clausewitz’s Trinity

(US AIR FORCE) Current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq pose a demanding challenge to policy-makers and practitioners alike. Success in these and similar conflicts that involve state and non-stat...

The Use of Exercise and Dietary Supplements Among British Soldiers in Afghanistan

Background and ObjectivesRecently published case reports, coupled with a large observational study of 1017 deployed servicemen to Iraq (January 2009), has highlighted the issue and potential concerns regarding the unregulated...

"Now the Gloves Come Off": The Problematic of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" in Battlestar Galactica

"Now the Gloves Come Off":The Problematic of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" in Battlestar Galactica Karen Randell (bio) I realized that if we re-do this today, people are going to bring with them memories and feelings about 9/11, and if we chose to embrace it, it was a chance to do an interesting science fiction show that was also very relevant to our time. —Ronald D. Moore, co-creator of Battlestar Galactica [End Page 168] We don't sit around saying "let's do an Abu Ghraib episode" but we're informed members of society and we watch the news—these things seep in. —David Eick, co-creator of Battlestar Galactica1 Battlestar Galactica (SciFi, 2004-2009) was a zeitgeist sci-fi series that critiqued the post-9/11 American political landscape. This essay considers one key episode, "Flesh and Bone," from the first season, to interrogate the ways in which the series engaged with its cultural context. As Susan A. George has noted, Battlestar Galactica (BSG ) "consistently addresses hard human issues" and "does not shirk at showing the worst of the human condition."2 Launched three years after the events of 9/11 and a year after the invasion of Iraq by US and coalition forces, the reimagined BSG is an erudite and politically motivated space opera.3 The traditionally Manichean sci-fi plot is problematized on a weekly basis as the series narrates the lives of approximately fifty-five thousand human survivors of the Cylon (human-made androids) attack on the Twelve Colonies.4 The survivors are forced to live a nomadic life in space as they search for a mythical destination: Earth. Each episode opens with the surviving-human roll call, a poignant reminder of the numbers of those dead and wounded not reported during the "war on terror" and the attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. As commander of the Afghanistan operation General Tommy Franks stated, "You know, we don't do body counts."5 By contrast, the roll call of the number killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11 has been ritually counted and annually commemorated. BSG offers an echo of all of those lost, counted or not. C. W. Marshall and Tiffany Potter state that the "resonances between BSG and the American experience at home and abroad in the early twenty-first century operate on a number of levels and are evident in nearly every episode."6 The episode under consideration here explores the notion of civil and human rights when torture is used to obtain information. Cylon Leoben (Callum Keith Rennie) is apprehended hiding aboard the only battleship that appears to have survived, Battlestar Galactica; when [End Page 169] captured, he states that he knows where a nuclear warhead has been placed among the fleet, and that the warhead is set to explode at 18:30 hours. The episode considers the techniques used to extract information from the enemy in such a "ticking bomb" scenario. Sci-fi critic and blogger Martin Anderson has argued that "'Flesh and Bone' is about human torture [and] not about cybernetics," and that "its tacit acceptance of torture is a ratification" of this interrogation technique: "The torture is justified because Leoben says he has information about the nuclear warhead." Anderson finds this narrative unacceptable ("Am I the only one person in the world who stopped watching BSG . . . when Starbuck tortured a Cylon?") because this is a "transparent simile of the motives behind rendition in our current society."7 In BSG, torture becomes a pragmatic approach to civilian safety. This, I would argue, is exactly why this episode is so important. The issues dealt with—but not resolved—in "Flesh and Bone" draw attention to the behavior of the US government in the post-9/11 moment. As John Ip has pointed out, "[V]ersions of the 'ticking bomb' scenario have [also] appeared in Bush administration documents and official statements that asserted the legality of torture and various coercive interrogation techniques."8 Anderson observes that "what most offended me about 'Flesh and Bone' was not that it sought to rationalise torture but that it took the validity of such an interrogation procedure for granted and immediately went...

Pythium aphanidermatum Infection following Combat Trauma

Pythium aphanidermatum is a fungus-like plant pathogen which has never been reported as a cause of human infection. We report a case of P. aphanidermatum invasive wound infection in a 21-year-old male injured during combat operations in Afghanistan.

Linking Exposures and Health Outcomes to a Large Population-Based Longitudinal Study: The Millennium Cohort Study

To describe current efforts and future potential for understanding long-term health of military service members by linking the Millennium Cohort Study data to exposures and health outcomes. The Millennium Cohort Study launched in 2001, before September 11 and the start of combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Other substantial Department of Defense (DoD) health, personnel, and exposure databases are maintained in electronic form and may be linked by personal identifiers. More than 150,000 consenting members comprise the Millennium Cohort from all services, and include active duty, Reserve, and National Guard current and past members, and represent demographic, occupational, military, and health characteristics of the U.S. military. These prospective data offer symptom assessment, behavioral health, and self-reported exposures that may complement and fill gaps in capability presented by other DoD electronic health and exposure data. In conjunction with Millennium Cohort survey data, prospective individual-level exposure and health outcome assessment is crucial to understand and quantify any long-term health outcomes potentially associated with unique military occupational exposures.

The Quiet Americans? CIA, NSA, and Counterinsurgency

The contribution of the U.S. intelligence community (IC) to counterinsurgency operations past and present has gone largely underappreciated, in part because of the pervasive secrecy surrounding most of the IC's activities. A review of two recently declassified histories of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) involvement in Vietnam in the 1960s provides insight into the historical contributions of these agencies to counterinsurgency efforts. This analysis provides a context for understanding available evidence relating to the two agencies' contributions to current counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The review concludes with intelligence policy recommendations.

How Wars End. By Dan Reiter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. 320p. $65.00 cloth, $26.95 paper. - Paths to Peace: Domestic Coalition Shifts, War Termination and the Korean War. By Elizabeth A. Stanley. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009. 408p. $60.00 cloth.

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What Are You Prepared to Do? NATO and the Strategic Mismatch Between Ends, Ways, and Means in Afghanistan—and in the Future

This article examines ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) operations in Afghanistan as a way to get at the strategic disconnects in ends, ways, and means that the author believes are endemic to large-scale protracted stability and COIN (counterinsurgency) operations against adversaries who do not pose palpable existential threats to the members of an alliance. The article focuses mainly on the period that followed President Barack Obama's December 2009 announcement of a civilian and military “surge” in Afghanistan through the early stages of the ISAF offensive in Marjah, which began in February 2010. The article concludes that the fundamental strategic issue is that the Allies are not willing (or able) to devote enough resources to achieve their stated objectives. No matter how much the “Ways” might be improved, the “Means” are not sufficient to attain the “Ends.” Thus, what is needed is a more realistic understanding of what ISAF can accomplish in Afghanistan and what NATO might be expected to accomplish in future operations.

A ‘reset’ of NATO–Russia relations: real or imaginary?

This article discusses Russian perceptions of and attitudes toward the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Russia has historically disliked and mistrusted NATO, seeing it as the primary threat to its international aspirations; in practice Russia pursues a dual policy. Its harsh condemnation of NATO has not stopped it from cooperating in selected areas of mutual interest. The most important among them is support for NATO's military operations in Afghanistan. The recent rejuvenation of relations between the west and Moscow is known as the strategic ‘reset’, meaning a return to diplomatic contacts and limited cooperation regardless of disagreements over the invasion of Georgia and Moscow's other recent international transgressions. The reset in NATO–Russia relations has only tactical significance, however. Cooperation will take place on a limited basis, but a genuine reset in mutual relations must wait for a reset in Russia's political and strategic priorities.

The UK’s Reserve Forces: Retrospect and Prospect

This article focuses on how the role and structure of the UK’s Reserve Forces have changed since their foundation before the First World War, with particular attention paid to the last two decades, during which time government has sought to make the Reserves more useable and relevant to post-Cold War military missions, including changing the legislative and administrative basis of their use. Since 9/11, Reserves have played an important role in the defense of the United Kingdom, particularly in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the recent financial crisis has spurred further consideration of how best to structure and use this capability, which has been included as part of the recent Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). The article analyses the current debate on whether the number of Reserve Forces should be cut or increased, and on how best to integrate their efforts with those of the Regular Forces. It also considers the evidence on the recent operational experience of Reserve Forces and its impact on a number of personnel issues, including recruitment, retention, and their health and well-being. The differences between the health and well-being outcomes for Reserve and Regular Forces are discussed and future lines of research enquiry highlighted, while the implications for the comparative analysis of Reserve Forces are also drawn out.

Outcome after vascular trauma in a deployed military trauma system

Military injuries to named blood vessels are complex limb- and life-threatening wounds that pose significant difficulties in prehospital and surgical management. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive description of the epidemiology, treatment and outcome of vascular injury among service personnel deployed on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Data from the British Joint Theatre Trauma Registry were combined with hospital records to review all cases of vascular trauma in deployed service personnel over a 5-year interval ending in January 2008. Of 1203 injured service personnel, 110 sustained injuries to named vessels; 66 of them died before any surgical intervention. All 25 patients who sustained an injury to a named vessel in the abdomen or thorax died; 24 did not survive to undergo surgery and one casualty in extremis underwent a thoracotomy, but died. Six of 17 patients with cervical vascular injuries survived to surgical intervention; two died after surgery. Of 76 patients with extremity vascular injuries, 37 survived to surgery with one postoperative death. Interventions on 38 limbs included 19 damage control procedures (15 primary amputations, 4 vessel ligations) and 19 definitive limb revascularization procedures (11 interposition vein grafts, 8 direct repairs), four of which failed necessitating three amputations. In operable patients with extremity injury, amputation or ligation is often required for damage control and preservation of life. Favourable limb salvage rates are achievable in casualties able to withstand revascularization. Despite marked progress in contemporary battlefield trauma care, torso vascular injury is usually not amenable to surgical intervention.

The injured mind in the UK Armed Forces

The mental health of the UK Armed Forces is a topic much debated by healthcare professionals, politicians and the media. While the current operations in Afghanistan, and the recent conflict in Iraq, are relevant to this debate, much of what is known about the effects of war upon the psyche still derives from the two World Wars. This paper will examine the historical and contemporary evidence about why it is that some Service personnel suffer psychological injuries during their military service and others do not. The paper will also consider some of the strategies that today's Armed Forces have put in place to mitigate the effects of sending military personnel into danger.

Comments on the <i>Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO) Handbook</i>

Comments on the <i>Mass Atrocity Response Operations (MARO) Handbook</i>

Iranian- Russian Relations: Partnership and Discord

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 36, 2, 2011 © The Maghreb Review 2011 This publication is printed on longlife paper IRANIAN- RUSSIAN RELATIONS: PARTNERSHIP AND DISCORD BY ALI GRANMAYEH* INTRODUCTION The ruling regimes in both Tehran and Moscow represent new entities in political geography. The regime change took place in Iran in early 1979, when the monarchical system collapsed through a revolution. Likewise, Russia faced a regime change in late 1991, when the Russian Federation achieved independence following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Iran had been occupied or threatened on numerous occasions by its powerful northern neighbour. Now there is no Tsarist colonial empire or a bullying Communist superpower located on Iranian borders. Yet in the perception of most Iranians, the Russian Federation has inherited the legacy of the Soviet Union. In spite of wide-range contacts, the image of the Soviet Union was more negative than positive in Iran. It was negative because of Moscow’s frequent interference in Iranian affairs during and immediately after the second world war. The peaks of the Kremlin’s misconduct were the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941 and implanting a puppet regime in the zone occupied by the Red Army in north-western Iran in 1945. With such experience, Iran had justifiably been worried that it might be victimized again through an East-West compromise or an East-West conflict. However, it should be noted that the Soviet government made successful efforts from the mid-1960s to improve its image through expanding economic cooperation with Iran. Before the change in the Iranian regime in 1979, the Soviet government built Iran’s first steel mill in Isfahan, when Iran’s Western allies failed to help with this Iranian aspiration. Furthermore, Moscow volunteered to import natural gas from Iran, while none of Iran’s Western partners in oil industry had such a project on their agenda. During the first decade of the new Islamic regime, Iran’s relations with the Soviet Union could not be described as cordial. In 1979, Iran stopped the export of natural gas and severely criticized the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union had been considered a military supporter of Iraq following the invasion of Iranian territory in September 1980. Iran also blamed the flow of 3 million Afghan refugees into its territory on Soviet operations in Afghanistan. The foundation of the Russian Federation in 1991 opened a new chapter in the relations between Moscow and the West, which Iran’s ideological government did not appreciate. In a foreign policy document titled ‘Strategy for Russia’ issued by the new Russian government, priority was given to Russia’s relations with the West and Russia’s Near Abroad rather than countries such as Iran. Yet * London Middle East Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London IRANIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS: PARTNERSHIP AND DISCORD 189 the foreign policy administration was advised in the same document to look after Russian interests in relations with politically and economically important countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Iran.1 The disintegration of the Soviet Union and formation of the Russian Federation coincided with the early phase of Iran’s post-Khomeini foreign policy and the emergence of Iran as a regional power following the multinational war against Iraq and the liberation of Kuwait. This study is aimed at verifying the extent of partnership and the origins of discord between Moscow and Tehran over the main topics of their relations. TOPICS IN IRANIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS Nuclear power plant Since 1975 a German company, Seimens, had been engaged in the construction of Iran’s first nuclear plant in Port Bushehr on the Persian Gulf. With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, Siemens abandoned the job. When the war ended in 1988, neither the Germans nor any other Western company accepted Iran’s invitation to construct this plant. Russia was the only country which was technically capable and politically ready to do business with Iran over this issue. Consequently, a contract was signed in 1995 for the construction of the nuclear power plant on the same site in Bushehr between Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and the Russian...

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Literature Review and Proposed Changes To Classification

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) reportedly occurs in 8-22% of U.S. servicemembers who conduct combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The current definition for mTBI found in the medical literature, to include the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Administration (VA) clinical practice guidelines is limited by the parameters of loss of consciousness, altered consciousness, or post-traumatic amnesia, and does not account for other constellations of potential symptoms. Although mTBI symptoms typically resolve within seven days, some servicemembers experience symptoms that continue for weeks, months, or years following an injury. Mild TBI is one of few disorders in medicine where a benign and misleading diagnostic classification is bestowed on patients at the time of injury, yet still can be associated with lifelong complications. This article comprehensively reviews the clinical literature over the past 20 years and proposes a new classification for TBI that addresses acute, sub-acute, and chronic phases, and includes neurocognitive, somatic, and psychological symptom presentation.