by Lieutenant Colonel Robert R. Scott
America's Strategic Intent Applied in South Asia (Full PDF Article)
Secretary of Defense Gates, in his prepared statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee on 27 January 2009 stated, "There is little doubt that our greatest military challenge right now is Afghanistan". The Secretary of Defense went on to describe the linkage between Afghanistan and Pakistan and that any solution will have to take both nations, and the rest of the region, into account. More importantly, the Administration signaled that it will increase the level of U.S. combat forces deployed to Afghanistan and refine its support to Pakistan in order to achieve a more stable environment in that region. Acknowledging the linkage between Afghanistan and Pakistan in any strategic engagement is an improvement in our understanding of the region.
Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) define the world we live in. Afghanistan and Pakistan are an example of the strategic dilemma facing the international community in the VUCA world. The strategic dilemmas facing the U.S., and by extension the rest of the world, defined by their intractable nature and characteristics, have driven many to approach them as "problems" that can be solved. The U.S. will not succeed in lessening either the number or nature of strategic dilemmas, if it continues to attempt to solve them as it has in the past. We must change the manner in which we view the paradigm that is the VUCA world from one of solving problems to one of managing strategic dilemmas.
America's Strategic Intent Applied in South Asia (Full PDF Article)
