Auxiliary Force or National Army? Afghanistan's ‘ANA’ and the Counter-Insurgency Effort, 2002–2006

Afghanistan's fifth effort to form a central army started in 2002, following the fall of the Taleban regime. Mainly run by the US armed forces, the formation of the so-called ‘Afghan National Army’ run into several difficulties, ranging from initially slow recruitment, low educational level of troops and officers, high attrition rates. As the new army began to take shape, it lacked many of the characteristics which had been associated by the promoters with a ‘national’ army. It also showed a low level of commitment and a lax discipline. As of 2006, it looked more like an auxiliary force at the service of the US army and its allies than like a ‘national’ army.     

对装甲旅（团）专业技术人才队伍建设的几点思考

人才是战斗力生成的关键之所在.装甲旅(团)是我军作战与编制的实体,装备保障专业技术人才培养与管理至关重要.装甲旅(团)必须盘活用人视角,把握人才成长的内外因素和一般规律,科学筹划专业人才发展战略,促进专业技术人才队伍不断发展壮大,以适应两个根本性转变的要求,迎接世界新军事技术革命的挑战.     

THE NEPAD AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM

The idea of establishing a permanent Pan-African army has for long caught the imagination of Africans as a potential solution to many of their continent's manifold security problems. This feature tracks the quest for a Pan-African military force through the past five decades covering the feeble attempts of Africa's freedom fighters to join forces, the repeated failure to establish an African High Command (AHC) in the early years of decolonisation, the subsequent inability of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Defence Commission to agree on a common defence structure, and the various fruitless initiatives of the international community to set up a Pan-African peacekeeping force in the 1990s. On the basis of this retrospective journey, the article argues that the African Union's current initiative to establish an African Standby Force (ASF) based on five regionally administered standby brigades should be seen in the tradition of this long quest and not as a groundbreaking new conceptual development, as argued by some. It further contends that even though the ASF is conceptually closer to the Standby Arrangement of the United Nations (UNSAS) than to a Pan-African army as envisioned by leading Pan-Africanists such as Kwame Nkrumah, it nonetheless marks a substantial development in Africa's continental self-emancipation which should be greeted and supported by Africans and the international community alike.     

Security gradient and national defense – the optimal choice between a draft army and a professional army

The earlier work on the optimal design of the national security has focused on the opportunity cost of the draft in terms of foregone human capital formation. The current paper introduces the national security into the welfare analysis missing from the earlier work. This creates a trade-off between the private goods and the security as a public good in the social cost–benefit analysis. There are three major results. First, and arising from the intergenerational interaction, it is optimal to introduce a pay to the young generation when in duty even by resorting to a distortive tax. Second, when optimizing the size of the army, the optimal choice between the draft army and the professional army depends on the risk class of the country. A security gradient arises. Third, the choice is linked to the size and the quality of the reserve generated by the two approaches.     

What explains the failure of U.S. army reconstruction in Afghanistan?

ABSTRACT

This author wrote his doctorate thesis on post-conflict army reconstruction, submitting it in 2011. Continued research on the subject in the intervening seven years indicates that his theoretical propositions can be refined and improved. This article examines refinements to the model, and then applies those refinements in detail to the Afghan case. In so doing, it shifts the focus from potentially altruistic state-building to a case that was driven by pure national-strategic interests. Issues surrounding the liberal peace ideology dominate recent army reconstruction in conflict-affected states. The liberal peace underpinning is of supreme importance, so much so that in many discussions, it is internalised and accepted virtually without thought. This paper will advance the body of knowledge by establishing, for the first time, a theoretical basis for the widespread failure of army reconstruction in Afghanistan. The empirical basis builds on extensive previous research by other scholars. The resulting model can also be applied to better explain outcomes in other similar cases.     

军民融合条件下新型军械装备保修模式研究

针对如何引入承制方优质技术力量支援部队维修保障能力建设这一问题,分析我军现役军械装备维修保障力量、保障模式存在的不足和地方装备维修保障力量的能力特点,明确承制方在军民融合条件下装备维修保障力量中的重要地位.在借鉴国外研究成果的基础上,深入分析和系统设计了我军军械装备的保修模式.结合部队巡检机制,建立了一维免费-按比例收费组合保修的费效模型来验证采购合同中保修条款的合理性.最后进行了案例分析,证明了模型的有效性和实用性.     

一种基于联动的军队网络安全防护体系

网络是军队信息化建设的基础,安全是军队信息化建设的保障。通过分析当前军队网络安全方面所存在的隐患以及防护措施的不足,引入一种基于联动技术的网络安全防护体系。该体系以防火墙为核心,以安全通信协议为基础框架,以PKI/CA体系为安全支撑,能够从整体上对军队网络进行全方位、立体的防护。其逻辑构成为核心安全设备、外围安全设备和安全通信协议3个部分,各种外围安全设备通过不同的安全通信协议如LD- BP、LCSP、ASIP等与核心安全设备(防火墙)进行有机联动,整个体系的安全性可以满足军队对网络安全的要求。     

支队主官如何在部队建设中发挥作用

支队主官作为部队建设的第一责任人,在党委领导集体中居于核心地位,主官如何发挥自身作用,切实掌控运用好手中的权力,是直接关系到队伍建设兴衰、部队发展成败、工作进退及战斗力强弱的关键性问题。     

美军现役装备改造后维修保障的做法和启示

现役装备改造是我军装备发展的重要途径.加强对现役装备改造后的维修保障问题研究,是解决目前我军装备改造后战斗力生成的迫切需要.通过深入研究了美军装备改造后维修保障基本做法,对我军当前存在的主要问题进行了探讨,并从中得出对我军加强装备改造后维修保障建设与发展的启示,为提高我军装备维修保障能力做了有益的探索.     

浅谈《孙子兵法》在部队安全防事故中的应用

《孙子兵法》中所蕴含的军队管理理念对部队的安全防事故工作有着高度的借鉴意义。从各级指挥员是部队安全防事故工作的主导，有效预防各类事故案件指挥员应具备综合的管理素质，明确部队安全防事故工作是全体官兵的共同责任三个方面，对《孙子兵法》在部队安全防事故中应用的合理性进行了分析。     

当代革命军人核心价值观在警卫部队的实践

实践当代革命军人核心价值观是当前公安警卫部队思想政治建设的根本任务。正确把握当代革命军人核心价值观的科学内涵及其在警卫部队的具体表现，坚持“以人为本”、“和谐文化”、“依法治军”和“长效机制”的理念，对警卫部队实践当代革命军人核心价值观具有重要意义。     

无产阶级军事家与“高树勋运动”的兴起

毛泽东、朱德、邓小平等无产阶级军事家对“高树勋运动”在解放战争时期的兴起作出了各自的贡献：邓小平通过做争取高树勋的统战工作，为“高树勋运动”兴起创造出实践经验，树立起实践典型；毛泽东发出“开展高树勋运动”的号召，要求全军广泛“开展高树勋运动”；朱德则把“高树勋运动”提高到符合历史规律的理论高度作出肯定。     

论公安现役部队机关管理效能的发挥

当前公安现役部队机关在管理方面还不同程度地存在着不到位及越位问题,分析问题产生的原因,提出充分发挥机关管理效能应采取的对策,对机关服务和保障基层建设具有重要意义。     

Israel’s Security Nexus as Strategic Restraint: The Case of Iran 2009–2013

This article examines the debates in Israel between 2009 and 2013 over Iran’s nuclear programme as a reflection of a particular type of civil–military or civil–security relationship. It analyses how key actors within that relationship – particularly those with an intelligence background – engaged with media outlets in Israel and further afield to influence domestic and international opinion over how best to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In so doing, it seeks to address one fundamental question: are governments in Jerusalem any longer the final arbiters over deciding what is in the national security interests of the State of Israel?     

Boko Haram’s increasingly sophisticated military threat

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates Boko Haram’s military capabilities and details the process of how its standing army, driven by these capabilities, came to pose a phased threat between 2013 and 2015 in particular. This was a period when military fighting dominated the insurgency in north-east Nigeria. Whereas there is an abundance of literature on Boko Haram’s histories and the impact of its insurgency on north-east Nigeria, analysis of Boko Haram’s military campaigning is still deficient. Attempting to fill this gap, this paper uses field findings and battlefield case studies from north-east Nigeria to highlight how Boko Haram’s overt front – its standing army – came to supplant its guerrilla operations as the main security threat to the frontier area.

This pivot towards military fighting, for a group initially composed of a few ragtag combatants, on the surface might seem surprising. Yet, whereas Boko Haram may lack the popular support required for ‘people’s war’, classic insurgency theories nevertheless hold some explanatory power for this deliberate shift: away from guerrilla warfare as the expedient of the weaker side, and towards the use of a large standing army of locals to swarm, and sometimes successfully overrun, state forces.     

探析党对军队领导的绝对性——深刻理解十八大精神，铸牢立军之本和建军之魂

习近平主席在中央军委扩大会议上强调：党对军队绝对领导是我军的立军之本和强军之魂。这是对十八大报告关于“党对军队的绝对领导”论述的进一步深化。认真学习十八大精神,必须切实弄清党对军队领导绝对性的本质特征、科学本源和集中体现,毫不动摇地坚持党对军队的绝对领导。     

把人文精神融入军队思想政治教育中

实现军队思想政治教育人文关怀,是改进军队思想政治教育和促进我军现代化建设的重要任务。把人文关怀融入思想政治教育,使军队思想政治教育迈向更高层次,更加科学化。以马克思主义的人文精神及其内涵为基点,提出把人文精神融入军队思想政治教育中,在阐释军队思想政治教育实践人文关怀的路径上,实现官兵的个人发展和军队建设的和谐统一。     

谈增强部队思想政治教育的实效性

思想政治教育是坚持党对军队绝对领导的根本性、基础性工作,是加强军队各项建设、完成各项任务的中心环节,是增强部队凝聚力、提高战斗力的重要保证。新世纪新阶段,部队思想政治教育面临新形势、新情况、新问题,应不断探索新途径、新方法、新对策,以增强思想政治教育的实效性。     

The French Army ‘Centre for Training and Preparation in Counter-Guerrilla Warfare’ (CIPCG) at Arzew

Psychological warfare had been used by the French army in the Indochina War (1946–54), and had spawned a sub-caste of French officers who moulded it and counter-insurgent propaganda into a doctrine known as guerre révolutionnaire (revolutionary war). In Algeria, in 1956, the army established a specialist training centre, the CIPCG, at Arzew on the Algerian coast, to provide courses for all officers arriving ‘in country’. By this, the French command sought to ensure that field officers possessed an approach to pacification and the political dimension to their missions well suited to the terrain and socio-political make-up of Algeria. The real ‘revolutionary war’ zealots were kept away from the directing staff, although some delivered guest lectures. Despite complaints from commanders of field units at losing experienced officers to the CIPCG instructing staff, Arzew students testified that the courses aided them in their missions. Some 10,000 French officers undertook courses at the CIPCG before it was downgraded and then disbanded after Pierre Messmer, a Gaullist, became Minister for the Armed Forces in 1960.     

Whistleblowing in the Irish Military: The Cost of Exposing Bullying and Sexual Harassment

Whistleblowing has gained increasing media attention over the past 40 years, as incidents of abuse and wrongdoing associated with businesses, religious institutions, the media and politics have come to light. In this article, we investigate the consequences of a military whistleblower’s actions for both himself and the military institution that he was a part of. The case concerns former army officer Dr. Tom Clonan and his findings concerning the bullying and sexual harassment of female personnel in the Irish Defence Forces at the turn of the century. As these revelations came to light over 17 years ago we are able to examine their consequences for the military since that time.