New Releases by Andrew Exum

"This report culminates a year-long project examining the future of U.S. strategy in South and Central Asia given the pending drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It is neither an exhaustive treatment of an extraordinarily complex and diverse region nor a comprehensive plan for policymakers. Rather, it identifies key priorities for the United States and the key components of a regional strategy offered in light of tumultuous current events. It draws from primary and secondary source materials, a series of working groups comprised of regional experts and strategists, and our own research trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan."--Page 5-6.

"The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial template for how to influence the strategic choices of actors within the Afghan government. This paper starts with an overview of sources of U.S. and allied leverage in Afghanistan and then discusses why military campaign design provides a useful template for designing a political strategy for Afghanistan. This paper concludes with six considerations for U.S. and allied policymakers and a short series of policy recommendations."--Page 6.

The summer of 2011, when U.S. troops will begin to draw down in Afghanistan, will mark a watershed in the U.S. and NATO''s decade-long effort in the country. A second watershed will occur in 2014 when the United States and NATO will transfer full responsibility of their efforts to Afghan leadership. But how does the United States and its allies get there from here? And what should the U.S. role be in Afghanistan beyond 2014?

Since the destruction of Saddam Hussein''s army in 2003, American military forces and their allies have been caught fighting a deadly counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq that continues to this day. How different might the American experience in Iraq have been had the forces that invaded and later occupied Iraq been bette r equipped to deal with the different cultures and languages they encountered th ere? America''s "cultural intelligence" in the Iraq War is the subject of my thesis. I n this study, I have four objectives: First, to offer a working definition for t he term "cultural intelligence." Second, to examine the degree to which the Amer ican military establishment in the past has recognized the importance of cultura l intelligence skills - including area expertise and language training - as "war fighting" skills. Third, to examine the degree to which the American military wa s prepared prior to Iraq with respect to the cultures and languages of the Iraqi peoples. Along the same lines, I seek to determine, if possible, the degree to which better cultural intelligence might have helped the Americans in their effo rts there. Finally, I will recommend revisions to current American military prio rities and resources that will better facilitate a military more culturally inte lligent and able to better fight asymmetric warfare in unfamiliar cultures and g eography.

The first combat memoir of the War on Terrorism: the gripping story of a young man’s transformation into a twenty-first-century warrior. Born into a family with a long history of military service dating back to the Revolutionary War, Andrew Exum enrolled in Army ROTC to pay for his Ivy League education. Shortly after graduation in 2000, he joined the infantry, then endured the grueling rigors of Ranger School before becoming a platoon leader with the storied 10th Mountain Division. He thought that perhaps, if he was lucky, he and his men would see action on a peacekeeping mission. Then came the fateful events of September 11, 2001. Called to action as a twenty-three-year-old, he led his troops into Afghanistan to root out the hard-core remnants of Osama bin Laden’s forces. Thrown into the maelstrom of modern war, Exum contended with Afghani warlords, cable news correspondents, and the military bureaucracy while hunting a desperate enemy in a treacherous land—and on a mountain ridge in the Shah-e-Kot Valley he would confront and kill an al-Qaeda fighter. After returning home, Exum struggled to come to terms with the media coverage and public perception of the war while seeking to make peace with the man he had become. By turns harrowing and reflective, this powerful memoir gives voice to a generation of soldiers that has risen to confront the threats of a dangerous new world.