NATO’s Struggle for Intelligence in Afghanistan

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221116138
• Author: Sebastiaan Rietjens
• Date: 01 October 2023
• Subject Matter: Commentaries

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221116138

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(4) 1001 –1012

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X221116138

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Commentary

NATO’s Struggle for

Intelligence in

Afghanistan

Sebastiaan Rietjens1,2

Abstract

What role did North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the coalition

(International Security Assistance Force—ISAF) it led play in the failure of the West

in Afghanistan? This essay argues that the ISAF intelligence community’s inability to

come to grips with the complex operational environment in Afghanistan contributed

to the problem. Using three concepts from the complexity literature, requisite

variety, learning, and enactment, I analyze critical flaws in NATO’s approach. ISAF’s

weak cross-cultural competence, its inconsistent relationships with international

civilian organizations, and its absence of double- and triple-loop learning are

identified as key drivers of NATO’s weak intelligence performance.

Keywords

Afghanistan, military intelligence, complexity, International Security Assistance

Force (ISAF), understanding, learning

In 2010, Michael Flynn, the then Deputy Chief of Staff Intelligence of the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan, noted,

Eight years into the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. intelligence community is only

marginally relevant to the overall strategy. Having focused the overwhelming majority

1Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands

2Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

Corresponding Author:

Sebastiaan Rietjens, Netherlands Defence Academy, P.O. BOX 90002, 4800 PA Breda, The

Netherlands.

Email: basrietjens@gmail.com

1116138AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X221116138Armed Forces & SocietyRietjens

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