This study seeks to provide an initial assessment of the war in Afghanistan and the lessons to be drawn in terms of war fighting, intelligence, and force transformation. The Afghan conflict is anything but a conventional war: it is asymmetric warfare fought by different sides with different goals and perceptions using radically different methods-and fought as a theater battle in a broader global struggle against terrorism. Asymmetric wars tend to be highly adaptive, and this war is both regional and global in scope. It is also a struggle fought in a context where it may come to interact with other conflicts such as the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian struggle and a possible US effort to drive Saddam Hussein from power.

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Introduction -- Drawing lessons without hard data -- A unique war with unique intangibles -- Lessons from a partial victory in an ongoing conflict -- Power projection and force transformation -- The challenge of force transformation -- Other lessons and issues -- Appendix-List of acronyms -- About the author