via Michael John Dwyer Lunch with the #FT: Emile Simpson. "When the veteran military historian Professor Michael Howard raves about a book by a little-known, 30-year-old ex-#Gurkha officer and declares it to be comparable to #Clausewitz, it is surely worth snapping to attention. And after reading War From the Ground Up, I am all the more intrigued to meet its author, Emile #Simpson..... High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. Simpson says that what intrigued him as a frontline officer was how much his experience on the ground diverged from what he had been taught about war and the way politicians talked about the conflict. Clausewitz still largely defines how most people understand war: it is primarily seen as an interstate activity that is polarised, decisive and finite. One side wins, declares victory and imposes its terms – and narrative – upon the loser. The other side accepts defeat, licks its wounds and works out how to fight smarter next time.... But the #Afghanistan #conflict, which has lasted longer than the two world wars combined, does not neatly conform to this pattern. Who is the enemy? How do you know when you have won? What would victory even look like? At times, when Simpson was fighting in #Helmand at the height of the counterinsurgency, the battle lines were fairly clear. “We were fighting the #Taliban pretty much every day. There were a lot of casualties – both ways. The battle group as a whole [of 1,000] had about 110 wounded and 28 dead, both British and Afghans,” he says. ft/intl/cms/s/2/8061f9a6-fde1-11e2-a5b1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2bmUcyPrb
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 08:11:21 +0000
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