![Franz-Stefan Gady Franz-Stefan Gady](https://www.eastwest.ngo/sites/default/files/styles/280x280/public/profile-images/franz_quadrat-1.jpg?itok=cqbXp-_a)
Obama And The Simple Truth of War
Commentary | July 08, 2011
EWI's Franz-Stefan Gady builds on David Kilcullen’s point that the West's heavy-handed intervention in Afghanistan created "the accidental guerilla," a person who fights for the simple reason that we are intruding in his daily life. He argues that Western strategists should realize that any attempt to influence insurgents with a "heart-and-mind campaign" can only achieve partial results because they are not addressing the root cause of the problem, i.e. the foreign military presence.