A glaring omission in President Obama’s speech Tuesday was any attempt to address the propaganda war that is currently being waged with increasing sophistication and success by the Taliban again the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. Information operations are a critical aspect of warfare and will help determine the outcome in Afghanistan, being focused on the hearts and minds of the Afghan population. Unless the Afghan people and their tribal leaders reject the extremist, violent Islamism of the Taliban and al-Qaeda and the grim vision of the future they represent, military …
While cross cultural communication has been deployed throughout the ages, most notably during WWII and the Cold War, it has now become “unavoidable” if the United States is to succeed in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to Col. Glen Ayers, who until retirement last year was chief of the Psychological Operations Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Col. Ayers was part of the book panel discussion at Heritage on Sept. 10, focusing on the anthology, Cultural Intelligence for Winning the Peace, edited by Dr. Juliana Geron Pilon of the Institute …
