CIAO DATE: 01/2014
December 2013
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
The article discusses the Norwegian approach to civilian-military relations in Afghanistan. It addresses both the strategic and tactical levels, arguing that the overall civilian aid to Afghanistan was significant and that the political leadership stressed the importance of civilian-military coherence. Nonetheless, on the tactical PRT-level such interaction was limited due to resistance, lack of intermediate level coordination, conflation of concepts etc. The article concludes that even though large scale operations like Afghanistan are unlikely in the immediate future, civilian-military will continue to be crucial in future military operations. There are therefore important lessons to be learned.
Resource link: The Norwegian Approach to Afghanistan: Civilian-Military Segregation [PDF] - 1.2M