Quote Originally Posted by VictorCharlie View Post
COIN doesn't work long term w/o a good host nation partner but a combatant commander can definately make real short term progess against an insurgency with the right assets and leadership.
It doesn't really matter in the short term though. It's only worth doing if it works in the long term and I can't think of anywhere the west managed to do it effectively. I read something back during the Iraq situation that said the Brits had managed it in malaysia a hundred and odd years ago but that was only because they'd already been there over a century and had a lot of local knowledge/ties etc.