How have the costs, both human and material, of US involvement in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq affected the country's will for conducting regime-change operations? What are the implications for issues of strategy? The authors of US Policy in Afghanistan and Iraq assess the impact of the two conflicts on US foreign policy, military planning, and capacities for counterinsurgency and state building. They also offer keenly insightful guidance for avoiding the pitfalls and increasing the prospects for success when the United States does intervene. -- Publisher description.

Introduction /Seyom Brown and Robert H. Scales -- Part 1: Post-September 11 foreign policy. The emergent debate : introduction to part 1 / Seyom Brown and Robert H. Scales -- US strategy toward "rogue states" / Robert Litwak -- Learning from our mistakes / Marvin Weinbaum -- Part 2: Military strategy and planning. Reassessing priorities ; introduction to part 2 / Seyom Brown and Robert H. Scales -- Military strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq / Dan Caldwell -- Lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq / Stephen Biddle -- Winning the wars we're in /John Nagl -- Part 3: Counterinsurgency and statebuilding. Unanticipated challenges : introduction to part 3 / Seyom Brown and Robert H. Scales -- Strategic counterinsurgency / Linda Robinson -- Assessing counterinsurgency operations / Michael O'Hanlon -- The predicament in Afghanistan / Vanda Felbab-Brown -- Part 4: Conclusion. Where do we go from here? / Seyom Brown and Robert H. Scales.