PPT Slide
Afghan case: Confluence of Strategy, Technology, and Threat in the Information Age
In Afghanistan, U.S. and Allied Forces confronted the Muslim equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan with its own foreign legion! Similar opponents wait in Yemen, Sudan and Somalia.
Post-Cold War Target Sets
High Value - Low Cost Targets co-mingled with civilians (hostages) consisting of individual leaders, specialized formations, time-sensitive concentrations of people and assets (2 minutes to 2 hours vulnerability), concealed in urban, as well as complex terrain.
These conditions dictated a mix of capabilities, as well as the need to act quickly and with precision on real-time information by whatever forces/capabilities could act first.
Needed covert HUMINT, ground sensors and precision strike systems because co-mingled and C3D2 obscured targets have to be prosecuted in seconds and minutes. Continuous availability key.