When NATO took charge of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan in 2003, ISAF conceptualized its mission largely as a stabilization and reconstruction deployment. However, as the campaign has evolved and the insurgency has proved to more resistant and capable, key operational imperatives have emerged, including military support to the civilian development effort, closer partnering with Afghan security forces, and greater military restraint. All participating militaries have adapted, to varying extents, to these campaign imperatives and pressures. This bo.

Introduction : military adaptation in war / Theo Farrell -- The great game and the quagmire : military adaptation in the British and Soviet wars in Afghanistan, 1839-1989 / Daniel Moran -- Into the great wadi : the United States and the war in Afghanistan / James A. Russell -- ISAF and NATO : campaign innovation and organizational adaptation / Sten Rynning -- Back from the brink : British military adaptation and the struggle for Helmand, 2006-2011 / Theo Farrell -- The military metier : second order adaptation and the Danish experience in Task Force Helmand / Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen -- Soft power, the hard way : adaptation by the Netherlands' Task Force Uruzgan / Martijn Kitzen, Sebastiaan Rietjens and Frans Osinga -- Mission command without a mission : German military adaptation in Afghanistan / Thomas Rid and Martin Zapfe -- Canadian forces in Afghanistan : minority government and generational change while under fire / Stephen M. Saideman -- Military adaptation by the Taliban, 2001-2011 / Antonio Giustozzi -- Shoulder-to-shoulder fighting different wars : NATO advisors and military adaptation in the Afghan National Army, 2001-2011 / Adam Grissom -- Conclusion : military adaptation and the war in Afghanistan / Frans Osinga and James A. Russell.