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David KilcullenContributing Editor for Military Affairs

David Kilcullen served in the Australian Army from 1985 to 2007. He was a senior counter-insurgency adviser to General David Petraeus in Iraq in 2007-08, followed by special adviser for counter-insurgency to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. He is the author of six books, including most recently The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West.

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inquirerInquirer

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, March 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

How the West lost its way in a jungle

As COVID-19 kills thousands, the West is paying for its post-Cold War hubris.

David Kilcullen

InquirerInquirer

TOPSHOT - Afghan Taliban militants and villagers attend a gathering as they celebrate the peace deal and their victory in the Afghan conflict on US in Afghanistan, in Alingar district of Laghman Province on March 2, 2020. - The Taliban said on March 2 they were resuming offensive operations against Afghan security forces, ending the partial truce that preceded the signing of a deal between the insurgents and Washington. (Photo by NOORULLAH SHIRZADA / AFP)

Same-same but different for Afghans

Hold the applause for the peace deal and look to Iraq for likely outcomes.

David Kilcullen

taus inq cover 4 3

New rules for an old war

Donald Trump puts a dollar value on everything, even conflict with Iran.

David Kilcullen

AnalysisInquirer

CORRECTION - (COMBO) This combination of file photos shows a handout picture provided by the office of the Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on June 4, 2019 of Iranian Major General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qasem Soleimani (L) in Tehran; and a file photo taken on December 31, 2019 of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (R), a commander in the Popular Mobilization Forces, attending a funeral procession of Hashed al-Shaabi fighters in Baghdad. - A US strike killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and the deputy head of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military force, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, at Baghdad's airport early on January 3, 2020, the Hashed announced. (Photo by Handout and Ahmad AL-RUBAYE / IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER'S WEBSITE / AFP) / --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT

General’s killing lifts US-Iran tensions

One Iranian response might be to launch asymmetric attacks on US personnel and bases across the Middle East.

David Kilcullen

CommentaryInquirer

Islamic State fighters pose with their flag.

Reinvented ISIS on a road to revenge

Baghdadi’s transformation into a martyr will give fighters worldwide a reason to avenge his death. We will see a rash of vengeance attacks.

David Kilcullen

InquirerInquirer

TOPSHOT - Syrian government forces arrive in the town of Tal Tamr, not far from the flashpoint Kurdish Syrian town of Ras al-Ain on the border with Turkey, which has been a key target of Turkish forces and their proxies since they launched their military assault, on October 15, 2019. - Syrian regime troops arrived after Damascus deployed troops to the country's north to contain a days-long Turkish offensive. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Trump may back-pedal but damage done

Donald Trump could yet join the Kurds as a victim of the US hurried withdrawal from Syria.

David Kilcullen

inquirerInquirer

In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, smoke billows from targets inside Syria during bombardment by Turkish forces Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

America’s blood sacrifice

US and Kurdish troops were allies in Syria; 24 hours later the Kurds were abandoned.

David Kilcullen

TOPSHOT - A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) walks carrying a machine gun at a position close to the camp of Baghouz where remaining Islamic State (IS) group fighters and their families are holding out in the last position controlled by IS, awaiting to advance on them in the countryside of the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor on March 17, 2019. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

‘Defeated’ ISIS is not enough

It’s abandoned its strategically suicidal attempt to be a physical state, but ISIS will emerge better and tougher than before.

David Kilcullen

AnalysisOpinion

Video images of a Christchurch Mosque mass shooting.

Video reveals an armed coward

Brenton Tarrant’s video is chilling, and more revealing than his manifesto.

David Kilcullen

Civilians evacuated from the Islamic State (IS) group's embattled holdout of Baghouz wait at a screening area held by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, on March 5, 2019. - Kurdish-led forces launched a final assault Friday on the last pocket held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, their spokesman said. The

AFTERLIFE OF THE CALIPHATE

Islamic State is down but not quite out, and it could be revived.

David Kilcullen

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/david-kilcullen/page/4