I’m flying over western Afghanistan at 35,000 feet, just heading out of the country. We’re passing over the Caspian Sea and soon will be over the Caucuses.  This is a complicated part of the world.

In three busy days in Afghanistan, I focused on Helmand province and the British and U.S. Marine Corps forces. Over the course of lunch with the provincial Governor – a man in his early 60s and a survivor of many challenging events in Afghanistan – I talked with him about the needs of the district.

“First is security,” he said. “It is the mother of all development.” When I pressed him for what comes next on the list, he said, “Education, health, and electricity.” With us at the table was the leader of a British Provincial Reconstruction Team, a group of civilian aid workers focusing on development. He seconded the view, and spoke about the programs they are putting in place in this agrarian part of Afghanistan where sadly the principal crop is opium poppies.

The conversation reinforced my oft-stated view that in the end we will not deliver security in Afghanistan from the barrel of a gun. We’ll need a few guns along the way, no doubt; but the key is getting the right balance of civilian and military work done in concert together. more…

I’ve now spent over three years “on the bridge” of two very large organizations — U.S. Southern Command in Miami and, of course, more recently U.S. European Command. As I reflect on my experience, both at this level and really since becoming a ship captain, I have come away with 15 things that have stood kept me in pretty good stead. Some of them I’ve picked up from my bosses along the way, some I’ve discovered through reading biography biographies of people I admire and history of events that have impacted my life and thought, and others are purely my own, often learned from my own failures and shortcomings.

These days, I offer them to other senior folks in my command, not as strict guidance, but as a reflection of some ideas that are valuable to me – things that work well and fit my own personality and style. I then encourage senior leaders to decide what works for them. I think the important thing for any leader, in the military or out, is to come up with his or her own list, try them out over time, and – if they come to fit pretty well – try to live them; therein, of course, lies the real challenge. more…

Admiral Stavridis (centre) provides remarks during the A5 Chiefs of Defense Conference in Budva, Montenegro 23-24 September. Read the remarks at the end of the blog text.

Over a decade ago, the brilliant writer Robert Kaplan published an award-winning study of the long history of turmoil, racial and religious hatred, conquest, and war in the Balkans.  His evocative title was perfect for his themes of historical enmity and bitterness:  Balkan Ghosts.

As I fly back from a three day visit of the region, I certainly had ample opportunity to see firsthand all that he describes; yet today, there seems to me to be real hope in the region for cooperation and security alignment, perhaps for the first time in the more than two millenniums of recorded history.
 
I’ve now visited the Balkans several times in both my NATO and U.S. European Command (EUCOM) hats.

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