Learning from Afghanistan

Military organizations train and prepare for the ultimate test of their fundamental purpose: waging war. However, the actual experience of warfare is often different from what armed forces had been training for, and military organizations are
always forced to change their practices while in the field. Through a 5,5 months research stay in the United States, this project explores how military organizations learn from battlefield experience and focuses on the strategic knowledge gathered from Afghanistan in three categories: military doctrine, cooperation with allies, and field cooperation with civilian organizations. The United States is a critical member
of the Afghanistan intervention and the most militarily powerful state within NATO. Therefore, collecting data on how and what the US Army and US Marines learnt from Afghanistan strongly matters for understanding the transformation of western
military organizations, which tend to emulate the US model.

Engelsk