Stabilization: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan

August 2018 No Comments

Stabilization: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan

Speaker: Young, D. (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction [SIGAR])

Date: 1 August 2018

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Mr. David Young (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction [SIGAR]) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM (Afghanistan) Speaker Series. Mr. Young began his presentation by defining stabilization and providing an overview of his recent project for SIGAR. He discussed the two critical decisions that contributed to the failure of USAID and DoD stabilization efforts in Afghanistan: “prioritizing the most insecure districts first” and “drawing down forces and civilians on calendar-based timelines rather than conditions-based timelines.” He then detailed the SIGAR project’s seven primary findings and ten distinct lessons learned. To conclude his brief, Mr. Young provided several recommendations regarding future stabilization efforts and planning.

To access an audio file of the speaker session, please contact Ms. Nicole Omundson (nomundson@nsiteam.com).

The full report upon which this presentation is based is available at https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslearned/SIGAR-18-48-LL.pdf, while the abbreviated and interactive version is available at https://www.sigar.mil/interactive-reports/stabilization/index.html