ieee.es

Search in this website
  • Home
  • News
  • 2016
  • May
  • The cultural focus on security sector reform: Lessons Learned in Afghanistan.- Miguel Hernández Suárez-Llanos

Publication

09/05/2016

The cultural focus on security sector reform: Lessons Learned in Afghanistan.- Miguel Hernández Suárez-Llanos

Every institution within any society must fit in with the particular society’s values in order to be effective and tenable. Therefore, certain Western institutions and principles cannot be applied to cultures with very different core values. The NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan approached the creation of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) from a strictly Western point of view, according to what coalition officers thought Afghans needed rather than what Afghans were able to handle. The resulting capability gaps within the ANSF are a consequence of this unrealistic end state, which results from a lack of a cultural approach during the problem framing phase at the strategic level. Understanding the critical effects of Afghan cultural singularities could have helped acknowledge the convenience of a less complex and sophisticated ANSF, more suitable to the Afghan mindset and resources, and less dependent on external support and sustainment.

Author: Miguel Hernández Suárez-Llanos

THIS DOCUMENT IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN SPANISH LANGUAGE

© Copyright 2010 Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies