Daniel Green is deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, a position he began in March 2019 after serving as Defense Fellow at The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
A former U.S. political officer in Afghanistan returns to the Uruzgan Province to assess its progress since the height of the Taliban insurgency.
"...When I arrived back in Uruzgan in 2012 for an eight-month tour as a mobilized reservist with the U.S. Navy, I felt incredibly lucky to see the immense changes that had taken place in the province. I was serving as a tribal and political engagement officer, using my relationships with local tribal members and provincial government members to advise U.S. military units operating in the area.
Sometimes it’s the small details that tell you a profound shift has taken place. The chaotic urgency of a province in open warfare had been replaced by a feeling of stability and a community confident in its ability to provide security for its residents. Police wore their uniforms, no small feat, and there were plenty of them throughout the provincial capital and around the area. The town of Tarin Kowt had a bustling bazaar and a rural sprawl of unplanned development because the paved road linking the province to Kandahar had been extended into the surrounding districts. The Afghan Army had a much larger presence, and the U.S. Special Operations Forces Village Stability Operations program had increased Afghan Local Police forces in the villages..."
