Developing a Strategy for South Asia: A Contrarian View
Ten years into the Afghanistan conflict, the United States still lacks a coherent strategy for Afghanistan. Yet because of the nature of the region and the conflict, we really need a regional strategy for South Asia. This talk will briefly discuss U.S. efforts to develop a strategy to date, examine the problems associated with that strategy and suggest an alternative approach based on a regional strategy.
Col. T.X. Hammes retired from the Marine Corps in 2005 after 30 years of service. He received his Ph.D. in modern history from Oxford University and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University. He has lectured widely at U.S. and International Staff and War Colleges and has been a featured speaker on future conflict and homeland security at conferences around the world. Hammes has published two books and over 80 articles and opinion pieces. His most recent book, Forgotten Warriors: The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, the Corps Ethos, and the Korean War, was released September 2010. The book concludes that culture as much as technology is at the heart of military effectiveness. In his earlier book, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century (2004), he examines the evolution of warfare in the 21st century and questions whether the U.S. military is evolving effectively.