Jesse Aizenstat: Afghanistan meets COINistan  Thursday, March 5,
2009  Afghanistan meets COINistan  If I were in charge, I'd set
the following four conditions for Afghanistan:  1. Secure as
much of the Civilian population as humanly possible, ASAP. Keep
in mind that this is the creed of classic COIN: drive a wedge in
between the insurgency and the state. If you want to read some
contemporary COIN wisdom that is currently being evaluated for
Afghanistan, click here.  2. Secure as much of the Civilian
population as humanly possible before the ELECTION. If the
powers that be want any kind of democracy to last, or even just
be legitimized, then they have to have this election go off with
"purple fingers."  3. Agreed, Start where you are strong. Don't
go charging in to Kandahar proper unless you already have a
record of successes. This means that the U.S. and Co. needs to
show that are worth their salt. Show that they can help--I mean
prove beyond a reasonable doubt to the Afghans that you are
worth it--and then i