Interview with Jeffrey Dressler

Interview with Jeffrey Dressler

An Interim Assessment on the Campaign

for Regaining the Momentum in Helmand Province

by Octavian Manea

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Interview

with Jeffrey Dressler

Jeffrey Dressler is a Research Analyst at the

Institute for the Study of War

(ISW) where he studies security dynamics in southeastern and southern Afghanistan.

He has previously published the ISW report,

Counterinsurgency in Helmand: Progress and Remaining Challenges (January

2011). Dressler was invited to Afghanistan in July 2010 to join a team conducting

research for General David Petraeus following his assumption of command.

How would you diagnose the COIN efforts and the on the ground developments

before summer 2009?

Primarily, I would say that the effort was under-resourced from the beginning

of 2006 up until 2009. I would also point to a lack of strategic clarity in terms

of the objectives that were being pursued. The forces, lacking the resources and

the mandate to really operate in an aggressive manner, were unable to address the

enemy situation and instead were focusing on reconstruction and development as the

means to win over the population.

Download the full article: 

Interview

with Jeffrey Dressler