US Approach to Stabilization and Application to Afghanistan Strategy

US Approach to Stabilization and Application to Afghanistan Strategy

Speaker: Robinson, L. (RAND)

Date: 20 June 2018

Speaker Session Preview

SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Ms. Linda Robinson (RAND) as a part of its SMA CENTCOM (Afghanistan) Speaker Series. Ms. Robinson focused on her DoD-sponsored RAND study on stabilization entitled “Finding the Right Balance: DoD Roles in Stabilization,” as well as its application to US policy and Afghanistan and South Asia strategy. The report concluded that a re-scoping of DoD policies would likely provide a better approach towards stabilization than the current one and affirmed the importance of supporting organic versus imposed processes. Furthermore, she spoke about how RAND’s evaluation of past experiences, current capability, and current capacity of stabilization efforts concluded that the DoD should “prioritize stabilization as a mission but focus on and improve its performance in three areas.” These three areas are: prioritizing security stability functions; providing support to other stability functions; and performing cross-cutting informational, coordination, and physical support roles. Ms. Robinson proceeded to outline the report’s other key findings and recommended revisions to DoD stabilization policy. She concluded the session by explaining the evolution of DoD stabilization policy and the application of these developments and findings to South Asia strategy.

Speaker Session Audio File

Download Ms. Robinson’s biography, slides, and relevant articles