ABSTRACT
The challenges of strategic leadership and military command in Iraq and Afghanistan were compounded by the growing unpopularity of the conflicts. This chapter considers the formulation and execution of strategy, military command, coalition and alliance command, and the comprehensive approach. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan show that ensuring responsibility and accountability within the government are aligned as clearly as possible, and that coordination and monitoring arrangements are both clear and simple, are core functions of heads of government and their subordinate teams. Military command is the authority to order and direct the implementation of decisions made by the commander. Military doctrine emphasises the principle of ‘unity of command’. The US military characterised the highest headquarters in Iraq and Afghanistan as ‘theatre-strategic’: much of their role – liaison with the host government, the US Embassy, the CIA, key allies and international organisations – required operating at the highest political and military levels.
