Stabilization: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan
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
David Young Bio
David H. Young is a conflict and governance advisor with extensive field experience in five conflict/post-conflict environments: Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Northern Ireland. At SIGAR, he is the lead author of the agency’s recent report, "Stabilization: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan." He was a civilian advisor to ISAF in Nuristan and Laghman provinces during the surge and subsequently served as a governance advisor to the World Bank, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Afghanistan's Independent Directorate of Local Governance. He has been a regular guest on Voice of America Television, and his writing and commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, the Daily Beast, Le Monde Diplomatique, RFE/RL, Al Jazeera, Asia Times, Pakistan's The Dawn, and Beirut's Daily Star, among others.
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