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Abdulkader H. Sinno
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Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond

by Abdulkader H. Sinno (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
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"After we had exchanged the requisite formalities over tea in his camp on the southern edge of Kabul's outer defense perimeter, the Afghan field commander told me that two of his bravest mujahideen were martyred because he did not have a pickup truck to take them to a Peshawar hospital. They had succumbed to their battle wounds. He asked me to tell his party's bureaucrats across the border that he needed such a vehicle desperately. I double-checked with my interpreter that he was indeed making this request. I wasn't puzzled because the request appeared unreasonable but because he was asking me, a twenty-year-old employee of a humanitarian organization, to intercede on his behalf with his own organization's bureaucracy. I understood on this dry summer day in Khurd Kabul that not all militant and political organizations are alike."―from Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond

While popular accounts of warfare, particularly of nontraditional conflicts such as guerrilla wars and insurgencies, favor the roles of leaders or ideology, social-scientific analyses of these wars focus on aggregate categories such as ethnic groups, religious affiliations, socioeconomic classes, or civilizations. Challenging these constructions, Abdulkader H. Sinno closely examines the fortunes of the various factions in Afghanistan, including the mujahideen and the Taliban, that have been fighting each other and foreign armies since the 1979 Soviet invasion. Focusing on the organization of the combatants, Sinno offers a new understanding of the course and outcome of such conflicts.

Employing a wide range of sources, including his own fieldwork in Afghanistan and statistical data on conflicts across the region, Sinno contends that in Afghanistan, the groups that have outperformed and outlasted their opponents have done so because of their successful organization. Each organization's ability to mobilize effectively, execute strategy, coordinate efforts, manage disunity, and process information depends on how well its structure matches its ability to keep its rivals at bay. Centralized organizations, Sinno finds, are generally more effective than noncentralized ones, but noncentralized ones are more resilient absent a safe haven. Sinno's organizational theory explains otherwise puzzling behavior found in group conflicts: the longevity of unpopular regimes, the demise of popular movements, and efforts of those who share a common cause to undermine their ideological or ethnic kin. The author argues that the organizational theory applies not only to Afghanistan-where he doubts the effectiveness of American state-building efforts―but also to other ethnic, revolutionary, independence, and secessionist conflicts in North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0801475783
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0801475788
  3. Publisher
    Cornell University Press
  4. Publication date
    January 15, 2010
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    5.9 x 0.8 x 8.9 inches
  7. Print length
    352 pages
  8. See all details
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Top reviews from the United States

  • David Munyua
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2015
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    Great book and interesting as well
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  • Peter Monks
    4.0 out of 5 stars Dispassionate but essential reading (for a select few)
    Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This work endeavours to use organisational theory in order to analyse the growth and effectiveness of the various protagonists in Afghanistan from 1979 onwards. The result is a scholarly and at times insightful work that attempts to define a model to forecast the effectiveness and probability of survival of an insurgent organisation or unconventional force based on a range of factors (not least it's degree of centralisation - surprising arguments include the assertions that in some cases foreign financial support or access to an indoctrinated manpower is less decisive than commonly expected), and makes a plausible case that state actors and conventional forces should be cautious about emulating decentralised, 'networked' structures that insurgents adopt out of necessity rather than choice.

    Two weaknesses are the relatively dispassionate and clinical approach, which fails to highlight the effects of the attitudes of various organisations to the use of force as a means of seeking compliance and securing support (willing or otherwise) at the tactical level, and the fact that despite publication in 2010 the analysis concludes in late 2005/early 2006. As a consequence, the analysis of the post-2001 insurgency is considerably less comprehensive than that of earlier chapters, and some of the authors wider assumptions (e.g. that Iraq was obviously a complete failure, so at the time of writing the ISAF effort in Afghanistan was doomed to failure as well ...) and conclusions are certainly open to question. That said, his analysis of the ANA and Karzai's government was comprehensive and accurate, and it would be interesting to see if a second (updated) edition could shed more light on the inner workings and tensions of the post-2001 insurgency.

    If you are looking for a general introduction to post-1979 Afghanistan this is far too narrow and specific a book to start with, and even if you expect to be operating over there at the tactical level there are other works I would recommend first. If, however, you expect to be involved in operational-level planning or have an interest in both organisational theory and COIN (surely it's not just me?) this is definitely worth a read and careful consideration.
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  • Amazon Kunde
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interessantes Buch, schnelle Lieferung
    Reviewed in Germany on December 4, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Zu dem Buch selbst: Ziemlich interessant. Es handelt sich zwar um ein Thema, dass bei genauerem Hinsehen zwar recht "umstritten" ist, aber die Erklärungen und alles drum und dran sind gut.

    Ich musste das Buch ins Ausland bestellen, aber selbst das war kein Problem: Binnen einer Woche war das Buch da. Gute Leistung!
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