ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history of United States (US) counterinsurgency operations over the last 25 years, with specific reference to the cases of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. It argues that creating a military peace in combination with economic incentives and the political devolution of power represent the best tactic to counter a nascent insurgency in heterogeneous states. The Yugoslav conflicts in the 1990s took Europe and the world by surprise. As the largest conflict on the European conflict since World War II, many people were rightly concerned about the potential for spillover and looked for outside intervention to stop further contagion. Unlike Yugoslavia, the US played a much more direct role in military action in Afghanistan. Hence, Counterinsurgency strategy should be limited, but where a greater commitment is required, a combination of economic, military, and political components can best move the particular case forward toward peace.
