CENTCOM CSAG Papers

Blacklisting the Houthis: What is the Price – What is the Gain?

By LtCol Michael von Normann, German Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group, Middle East Branch 9 Feb 2021 Introduction: On December 30, 2020, three precision-guided missiles struck Aden Airport where a plane carrying Yemeni cabinet members had just landed. The strike killed twenty-seven people and wounded over 130. Read More >

Iran’s South Korea-Flagged Oil Tanker Seizure: What Does this Action Mean?

By Lieutenant Colonel Youngsuk Lee, Republic of Korea Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 8 Feb 2021 Introduction: On 5 January 2021, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the South Korea-flagged oil tanker M/T HANKUK CHEMI in the Strait of Hormuz. As a justification, Iran cited alleged Read More >

China’s Territorial Ambition in Central Asia

  By MAJ Naoki Tajiri, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 4 Feb 2021 Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has restarted China’s revisionism along with their ambition of territorial expansion and accelerated their long-term plans. After World War II, China advanced westward and invaded Tibet in Read More >

Facilitating Stability in Afghanistan

By Lt Col Farhan Ali, Pakistan Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 3 Feb 2021 Introduction: Almost 20 years in, the Afghanistan war has entered a phase where the peace dividend outweighs the potential benefits of continued conflict. Major warring parties have reached a stalemate as NATO cannot Read More >

Impact of India-China Tensions in the CENTCOM AoR

  By Lt Col Farhan Ali, Pakistan Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 25 Jan 2021 Introduction: Complex territorial disputes, economic competition, and broader geostrategic competition between India and China cause tensions along the world’s longest unsettled group of borders. The circa 3500 kilometer Indo-China border is divided Read More >

Russian New Historical Discourse

  By LTC Arto Hirvela, Finnish Army, US Central Command: Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; Combined Strategic Analysis Group 19 Jan 2021 Introduction: The Russian regime (Putin especially) has made victory over Nazism a cornerstone of their national ideology and legitimacy. President Putin deems the collapse of the Soviet Union as the major geopolitical disaster Read More >