Andrew M. Exum
Topics: Regional Security Challenges, Terrorism & Irregular Warfare, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Military Forces & Operations Projects: Afghanistan
Mark Moyar, "A Question of Command"William Maley, "The Afghanistan Wars"Joshua Geltzer, "U.S. Counter-Terrorism Strategy and al-Qaeda"Vincent Desportes, "La Guerre Probable"
Andrew Exum is a Fellow with the Center for a New American Security. He is a native of East Tennessee and served on active duty in the U.S. Army from 2000 until 2004. He led a platoon of light infantry in Afghanistan in 2002 and a platoon of Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Most recently, Exum served as an advisor on the CENTCOM Assessment Team and as a civilian advisor to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan. He is the author of one book, This Man’s Army: A Soldier’s Story from the Frontlines of the War on Terror (Gotham, 2004) and has published opinion pieces in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Guardian and many other newspapers. Exum studied classics and English literature at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the American University of Beirut. He is a doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and founder of the counterinsurgency blog Abu Muqawama.
Author(s): Greg Jaffe, Karen DeYoung
Source: The Washington Post
Date: 05/12/2010
May 12, 2010 - Speaking to The Washington Post's Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung, CNAS Senior Advisor Lt. Gen. David Barno, USA (Ret.) and Fellow Andrew Exum both emphasize the importance of promoting good local governance in Afghanistan while concurrently engaging with President Hamid Karzai and his central government. "If you ask Afghans or U.S. military commanders what matters most to them, the answer is almost always local governance," said Exum. "But the truth is that the government is going to be more centralized than would be ideal for Afghanistan."
| more |Author(s): Peter Spiegel
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Date: 05/12/2010
May 12, 2010 – CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum draws the distinction between stabilization and development in Afghanistan in a Wall Street Journal article, arguing that “we've done a poor job building up a functioning relationship with the Afghan Government”.
| more |Author(s): Anne Gearan
Source: Associate Press
Date: 05/06/2010
May 6, 2010 - The Associated Press covers the new CNAS report on the need for a U.S. political strategy in Afghanistan. "Good counterinsurgency tactics and operations cannot, in and of themselves, win a campaign," writes report author CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum.
| more |Author(s): Tom Bowman
Source: National Public Radio
Date: 04/22/2010
April 22, 2010 – NPR's Tom Bowman asks CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum about the significance of the deaths of two senior Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders this week. Exum relates the operation's success to his own experience in Iraq, saying " When I was in Iraq in 2003, 2004, trying to do capture-kill missions aimed at senior Baathist leadership, we didn't have much success, in large part due to the fact that our intelligence was often so spotty”
| more |Author(s): William Wise
Source: C-SPAN
Date: 03/05/2010
March 5, 2010 – CNAS experts Patrick Cronin, Tom Ricks, and Andrew Exum share their views on counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and the way forward on a panel hosted by John Hopkins’ SAIS and broadcast by C-SPAN.
| more |Author(s): Zoe Magee, Martha Raddatz
Source: ABC World News
Date: 03/03/2010
March 3, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum analyzes footage on ABC World News of a newly discovered network of caves on the Afghanistgan-Pakistan border thought to have housed Ayman al Zawahiri, a top al Qaeda leader.
| more |Author(s): Andrew Exum
Source: The Daily Beast
Date: 02/23/2010
February 23, 2010 – CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum argues that the short term risks of limited engagement in Afghanistan are outweighed by the increased chance of long-term success that accompanies protection of the Afghan civilian population in a new piece in The Daily Beast.
| more |Author(s): Christopher Drew
Source: The New York Times
Date: 02/19/2010
February 19, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum comments on the continued importance of aerial drones to counterinsurgency efforts in a piece by The New York Times' Christopher Drew.
| more |Author(s): Neal Conan
Source: NPR's Talk of the Nation
Date: 02/16/2010
February 16, 2010 – CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum examines the strategic goals of the days-old Marjah offensive in Afghanistan on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.
| more |Author(s): T.J. Holmes
Source: CNN
Date: 02/10/2010
February 10, 2010 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum discusses the future implications of Afghan security beyond the Marjah offensive in an interview with CNN.
| more |Author(s): Andrew Exum
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 05/06/2010
This report notes that America's counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan has focused more on waging war at the operational and tactical levels at the expense of the strategic and political levels and offers recommendations to design an effective political campaign.
| more |Author(s): Andrew Exum, Scott Brady, Richard Weitz, Kyle Flynn, Robert Killebrew, James Dobbins, Marc Lynch
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 04/20/2010
This report extracts lessons learned from other peacekeeping operations that could be applicable to defend a two-state solution in the Middle East.
| more |Author(s): Andrew M. Exum, Richard Fontaine
Type of Publication: Policy Brief
Date: 11/20/2009
In this policy brief, CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum and Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine outline the severity of Yemen’s internal security challenges and offer several policy recommendations to improve regional stability and reduce the threat to U.S. national interests.
| more |Author(s): Andrew Exum
Type of Publication: Policy Brief
Date: 10/20/2009
This brief, authored by CNAS Fellow and U.S. Afghanistan policy expert Andrew Exum, is meant to serve as a guide for strategic Afghanistan policy planning by laying out the worst, most likely, and best-case scenario for what the country might look like in 24 months, and how U.S. policy might make each scenario more or less likely.
| more |Author(s): Andrew M. Exum, Nathaniel C. Fick, Ahmed A. Humayun, David J. Kilcullen
Type of Publication: Report
Date: 06/10/2009
Eight years into the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, the situation is as perilous as ever and continuing to worsen. The campaign has been further complicated by a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Pakistan, where the center of gravity of the insurgency has now shifted.
| more |Author(s): Dr. John A. Nagl, Andrew M. Exum, Ahmed A. Humayun
Type of Publication: Policy Brief
Date: 03/16/2009
March 2009 - In a new policy brief published by CNAS, authors John Nagl, Andrew Exum, and Ahmed Humayun recommend that the United States increase its support for Afghanistan's National Solidarity Program (NSP) and similar development initiatives. Launched in 2002 by Afghanistan's Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the NSP is a rural development project that disburses modest grants to elected village councils. The NSP has not just simply provided tangible services to Afghans; it is "owned" by Afghans and run with an emphasis on transparency.
| more |Author(s): Andrew M. Exum
Type of Publication: Book
Date: 05/19/2006
Born into a family with a long history of military service dating back to the Revolutionary War, Andrew Exum enrolled in Army ROTC to pay for his Ivy League education. Shortly after graduation in 2000, he joined the infantry, then endured the grueling rigors of Ranger School before becoming a platoon leader with the storied 10th Mountain Division. He thought that perhaps, if he was lucky, he and his men would see action on a peacekeeping mission. Then came the fateful events of September 11, 2001.
| more |Type: Transcript
Date: 10/26/2009
October 26, 2009 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum discusses the risks of using predator drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan in a report by Jane Mayer of The New Yorker. "We're not saying drones are not part of the strategy. But we are saying that right now they are part of the problem," said Exum.
| more |Type: Transcript
Date: 10/02/2009
October 2, 2009 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum is interviewed on the upcoming PBS FRONTLINE documentary "Obama's War." The full documentary will air October 13. Download the full transcript here.
| more |Type: Audio
Date: 08/10/2009
August 7, 2009 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum discusses the current situation in Afghanistan with John Hockenberry and Amy Holmes of The Takeaway.
| more |Type: Audio
Date: 07/29/2009
July 29, 2009 - CNAS Fellow Andrew Exum is interviewed by World Politics Review about his recent participation in a 60-day review of strategy and operations in Afghanistan. "Our goal over the next 12 months is to palpably change momentum in Afghanistan. I think the American public and policymakers have to decide whether or not momentum has shifted enough come July or August of 2010, to justify our continued investment in the government of Afghanistan," said Exum.
| more |Speaker(s): Professor Andrew J. Bacevich, Lt. General David W. Barno, Colonel Christopher G. Cavoli
Type: Audio
Date: 06/11/2009
The full audio of the panel "Triage: The Next 12 Months in Afghanistan and Pakistan" from the June 11, 2009, conference is available here.
| more |Speaker(s): Professor Andrew J. Bacevich, Lt. General David W. Barno, Colonel Christopher G. Cavoli
Type: Transcript
Date: 06/11/2009
The full transcript of the panel "Triage: The Next 12 Months in Afghanistan and Pakistan" from the June 11, 2009, conference is available here.
| more |Speaker(s): Nathaniel C. Fick, Professor Andrew J. Bacevich, Lt. General David W. Barno, Colonel Christopher G. Cavoli
Type: Video
Date: 06/11/2009
June 11, 2009 - The full video of the panel "Triage: The Next 12 Months in Afghanistan and Pakistan" from the June 11, 2009, conference is available here.
| more |Type: Video
Date: 03/16/2009
In providing additional military forces for the Afghanistan war, the Obama administration has demonstrated that Afghanistan is no longer an economy-of-force campaign. But a troop surge alone is not enough to win the war. In orthodox counterinsurgency theory, providing essential services and strengthening governance are as important as fighting the enemy with guns and bullets. A precondition for allied success is an Afghan state that is legitimate in the eyes of its citizens and able to provide them with essential services. A renewed U.S. commitment to funding grassroots development and governance in Afghanistan must therefore accompany the influx of troops.
| more |06/09/2009
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 9, 2009 - CNAS has released several new reports and working papers for its third annual conference, “Striking a Balance: A New American Security" on Thursday, June 11. Topics include Iraq, Afghanistan-Pakistan, Natural Security, and combating violent extremism. Each report offers strong, principled and pragmatic recommendations on how to strike a balance between immediate and long-term national security challenges facing the United States.
| more |06/08/2009
WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 8, 2009 – The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is pleased to announce that Abu Muqawama, a leading blog on issues related to defense policy, is now hosted on the CNAS website. The founder and editor of the blog, Andrew Exum, recently joined CNAS as a fellow, where his work focuses primarily on contemporary conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia.
| more |03/18/2009
WASHINGTON, DC, March 18, 2009 - In providing additional military forces for the Afghanistan war, the Obama administration has demonstrated that Afghanistan is no longer an economy-of-force campaign. But a troop surge alone is not enough to win the war. In orthodox counterinsurgency theory, providing essential services and strengthening governance are as important as fighting the enemy with guns and bullets.
03/16/2009
WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 2009 - The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is pleased to announce that Abu Muqawama founder and irregular warfare expert Andrew Exum has joined CNAS as a Fellow. At CNAS Exum will focus on the Middle East region, irregular warfare and Afghanistan among other issues. CNAS President John Nagl says, "Andrew Exum is one of the world's brightest thinkers and practitioners on irregular warfare.
| more |© 2010 Center for a New American Security | Privacy Policy