Senior Fellow Colonel Robert Cassidy at the Worcester Committee on Foreign Relations

Worcester Club, Worcester, Massachusetts, December 11th, 2009

Colonel Robert Cassidy, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS), delivered a speech on “The Long War in Afghanistan: Past Problems and Future Prospects.” The Worcester Committee on Foreign Relations is a Massachusetts chartered non-profit corporation initially formed in 1958 under the auspices of the Council on Foreign Relations. Its purpose is to provide a forum for learning and discussion of current issues and events pertaining to international relations, and to foster dialogue between local civic leaders and invited experts in the field.

Colonel Cassidy discussed insights at the strategic and operational levels of the war in Afghanistan. He framed his address within the context of a long irregular war. Colonel Cassidy provided a short historical overview, an analysis of the insurgency, a review of lessons from the Soviet war there, and his observations on the much improved current effort.

Colonel Cassidy’s most recent book, Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror, was published in 2008 by Stanford University Press in paperback. The book offers an analysis of al Qaeda and its’ global revolutionary war. It distills past case studies in American, British, French, and Russian experiences in counterinsurgency for best practices. It concludes with recommendations for improving the employment, integration, command, and control of indigenous forces and other agencies involved in prosecuting counterinsurgency campaigns. Colonel Cassidy is currently conducting research for his next book, War and Punishment: Pursuing Peace among the Pashtuns.