Overview

Exploring how the U.S. military can move beyond Iraq and Afghanistan.Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. military has been fighting incessantly in conflicts around the globe, but with inconclusive results. The legacy of this long involvement in war without end includes a military that is bitter and frustrated. The public is disinterested. The national security apparatus seeks to pivot away from these engagements and to move on to the next threats - notably those emanating from China and Russia. At best there are ad hoc, unstructured debates about Iraq or Afghanistan. Many young Americans question whether it even makes sense to invest in the military. Simply put, there has been no serious, organized stocktaking by the public, politicians, opinion leaders, or the military itself of this inheritance. Despite its lengthy warfighting experience and high-technology weapons, the military is woefully unprepared for future wars because of this conflicted legacy and uncertainty about the future security environment. But the United States cannot simply hit the reset button.If the U.S. military seeks to win in the future, it must acknowledge and reconcile with the inheritance of its long and failed wars. This book seeks to help them do so.

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9780815738459

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In between her stints of service in the Pentagon, first under U.S. President Barack Obama and now under President Joe Biden, Karlin explored what went wrong with the two big U.S. wars of this century, in Afghanistan and Iraq. She considered, in turn, how the military went to war, how it waged war, who served in the ranks, and who led, before addressing what the prosecution of these wars meant for future conflicts. To this end, she interviewed around 100 civilian and military figures. Quotes from these interviews enliven her book and help bring home the importance of personalities, leadership, the emotions that can be aroused by apparently dry debates about civil-military relations, and the dangers of too great a separation between the armed forces and the society they serve. Americans routinely express gratitude for soldiers without really understanding what their service entails or the toll of long tours in hostile environments. She urges continued reflection on mistakes as well as achievements, better dialogue between the civilian and military leadership, and holding them both to proper account.

"In between her stints of service in the Pentagon, first under U.S. President Barack Obama and now under President Joe Biden, Karlin explored what went wrong with the two big U.S. wars of this century, in Afghanistan and Iraq. She considered, in turn, how the military went to war, how it waged war, who served in the ranks, and who led, before addressing what the prosecution of these wars meant for future conflicts. To this end, she interviewed around 100 civilian and military figures. Quotes from these interviews enliven her book and help bring home the importance of personalities, leadership, the emotions that can be aroused by apparently dry debates about civil-military relations, and the dangers of too great a separation between the armed forces and the society they serve. Americans routinely express gratitude for soldiers without really understanding what their service entails or the toll of long tours in hostile environments. She urges continued reflection on mistakes as well as achievements, better dialogue between the civilian and military leadership, and holding them both to proper account.-- ""Foreign Affairs"""

A comprehensive and provocative examination of the effects of decades of war on the U.S. military from one of the preeminent scholar-practitioners in the field of national security affairs. Karlin relates what Defense Department leaders are thinking about the legacy of post-9/11 wars and suggests ways they could think more fruitfully. An essential resource for anyone trying to make sense of the recent past and likely future of U.S. defense policy. --Peter D. Feaver, professor of political science and public policy, Duke University; director, Duke Program in American Grand Strategy Brilliant. Incisive. A must-read for students of the U.S. military and anyone who wants to understand the lasting impacts of the last twenty years of war. This insightful stock-taking of the lessons we should learn from recent history is critical to understanding how to keep the military's edge in the future. --Michele Flournoy, chair, Board of Directors, Center for a New American Security; cofounder and managing partner, WestExec Advisors No person I know can better capture the complex legacy of twenty years of post-9/11 conflict than Mara Karlin and her excellent new effort, The Inheritance. Indeed, as the U.S. prepares itself for an unprecedented array of twenty-first-century national security challenges, this insightful work should be considered required reading for experts, in and out of government, and everyday citizens alike. --General John R. Allen, USMC (Ret.); president, the Brookings Institution This book is an excellent exploration of the struggle by the U.S. national security community to critically examine our failures of the past twenty years. I especially value Karlin's emphases on inculcating a culture of skepticism and practical ways to reconnect the public with policy about wars. --Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies, American Enterprise Institute

Author Information

Mara E. Karlin was director of Strategic Studies and associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Karlin previously served in national security roles for five U.S. secretaries of defense. She is the author of Building Militaries in Fragile States: Challenges for the United States.

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