ADM Stavridis meets the Afghan Kandak (Battalion) commander in Forward Operating Base Shindand while visiting ISAF troops in Western Afghanistan 19 January 2010.

I’m back from spending a few days in Afghanistan last week – and I came away encouraged and optimistic about our approach. 

In the course of three days in both Kabul and Herat, which is out west, I had the privilege to observe both ISAF and Afghan forces in action.  With this trip complete and an important international conference on Afghanistan upcoming in London, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a few observations with you. 

My arrival in Kabul on Monday morning, January 18, amidst an insurgent attack in the capital was particularly timely.  The Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) responded quickly and effectively to prevent the insurgents from disrupting government operations.  It was inspiring to see firsthand the progress that Afghan forces have made, and the increasing responsibility they are assuming for their nation’s security.  All 15 insurgents were killed or captured, with a minimal loss of life on the Afghan side.  Our NATO troops were NOT involved!  more…

Last Friday I flew to my U.S. European Command (EUCOM) headquarters in Stuttgart to conduct an “All Hands” with the military and civilian personnel assigned to the headquarters at Patch Barracks.  The flight from my NATO headquarters in Belgium was an airborne “sleigh ride,” and the landing a bit of a white knuckle experience.  However, I really wanted to meet with the team and talk about the “way ahead” for 2010, share with them my perspective, and solicit their feedback.

 Events like this are traditional throughout the military, and they afford the commander the chance to “reach-out”  to colleagues and troops.  Realistically, a command like EUCOM– with 200,000+ Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, civilians and family members – is too big to meet with everyone personally at once.  But there are ways to use modern media to move the commander’s message, and this “All Hands” represented my first such engagement in the New Year. more…

While the SHAPE and U.S. European Command reading lists (available from our websites) provide some wonderful selections, I thought I’d quickly offer five good books that I read over the course of 2009 that relate to some aspect of what we are about these days.  Since reading both fiction and non-fiction is a good way to keep things in balance,  some of each are on the short list below.

“Flashman” by George MacDonald Fraser.  Historical fiction often provides the best illumination of a place or a time, and in this first volume of the Flashman series, Fraser – who died last year – provides a vivid and instructive view of the first Anglo-Afghan war.  Here we see the disastrous retreat from Kabul in 1842 which cost the British over 15,000 lives in essentially a month’s time, led by the hapless General Elphinstone.  It is a tale which provides a fascinating insider’s view of the British experience in the 19^th century, and well worth the time of those who are studying that troubled nation today.  Old ghosts rattle through Afghanistan, and this novel shows us several in depth and detail. more…