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Rumsfeld's Annual Report Outlines Lessons Learned in War on Terror
Monday, August 19, 2002
By SFC Kathleen T. Rhem
U.S. Army
American Forces Press Service

The Secretary of Defense outlined the objectives of the military operations:

* To make clear to the Taliban leaders and their supporters that harboring terrorists is unacceptable and carries a price;
* To acquire intelligence to facilitate future operations against al Qaeda and the Taliban regime that harbors the terrorists;
* To develop relationships with groups in Afghanistan that oppose the Taliban regime and the foreign terrorists that they support;
* To make it increasingly difficult for the terrorists to use Afghanistan freely as a base of operation;
* To alter the military balance over time by denying to the Taliban the offensive systems that hamper the progress of the various opposition forces; and
* To provide humanitarian relief to Afghans suffering truly oppressive living conditions under the Taliban regime.



WASHINGTON -- AFIS
U.S. service members' capacity for adaptation is a precious commodity that made possible American and coalition successes in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in his Annual Report to the President and the Congress.

In the report, released Aug. 15, Rumsfeld said U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan aren't necessarily a model for the next military campaign, "which in all likelihood will involve very different circumstances and impose very different demands."

"Nevertheless," he insisted, "some lessons can be drawn from recent events and can be applied to the future." The report outlines nine "lessons learned" from the war on terrorism thus far.

"Wars in the 21st century will increasingly require use of all elements of national power," the report states. These include economic, diplomatic, financial, law enforcement, and intelligence, in addition to overt and covert military operations. Pentagon officials have said U.S. efforts in the war on terrorism go beyond the well-publicized military battles.

Rumsfeld and other senior leaders also have said often that "jointness" will be the key to all future military success. The report supports their contention.

"The victories in Afghanistan were won by 'composite' teams of U.S. Special Forces on the ground, working with Navy, Air Force and Marine pilots in the sky," the report states.
(More: DoD News Source)

The entire annual report is available in HTML and .pdf versions at www.defenselink.mil/execsec/adr2002/toc2002.htm.

2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan