A new report, Remote Warfare (RW): developing a framework for evaluating its use, by Dr Jon Moran of the University of Leicester (Department of Politics and International Relations), commissioned by the Remote Control Project, has been published today.
The report finds that the lack of a UK security strategy has led to the use of remote warfare by the UK in a number of overseas conflicts as a ‘stop gap’, rather than as part of a coherent strategy. The report also warns that remote warfare, whilst a successful tactic in some cases, is often counter-productive and ineffective. The report – which evaluates how remote warfare is carried out by the British in Sierra Leone (1990s), Afghanistan (2001-2002 and 2009), Libya (2011), and Mali (2012) – reveals a number of worrying consequences of remote warfare including destabilising countries, spreading or prolonging conflicts and the danger of a ‘forever war’ scenario whereby warfare is pursued on an ongoing basis with no end.
Read the press release here.
Read the report here.
Image: Soldiers from the 1st Battalion the royal Welsh regiment at the start of operation moshtarak in Helmand, Afghanistan. Source: UK Ministry of Defence on flickr.