Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0009-3214-2760
Graduation Year
2026
Date of Submission
4-2026
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
International Relations
Reader 1
Lisa Koch
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2026 Kylie W Ha
Abstract
This thesis examines how the absence of comprehensive cultural and linguistic competence within U.S. Army doctrine contributed to operational and ethical failures during the wars in Iraq (2003–2011) and Afghanistan (2001–2021). It focuses on the gap between doctrinal recognition of culture and language and the failure to institutionalize these elements as measurable, force-wide competencies. The thesis analyzes doctrinal publications spanning the period from 2001 to 2014 and finds that, while these publications increasingly acknowledged the importance of cultural awareness, language, and local context—particularly in counterinsurgency operations—these elements were not embedded as standardized requirements across training, planning, or evaluation. Iraq and Afghanistan are examined as related cases, with Iraq as the shorter war in which many of these deficiencies became visible, and Afghanistan as the longer war in which they persisted and were not systematically corrected despite prior experience. The thesis argues that this gap produced persistent operational and ethical failures, as cultural and linguistic knowledge was not treated as a core component of military effectiveness. This analysis is limited in scope to U.S. Army doctrine and its relationship to operational outcomes in Iraq and Afghanistan and does not seek to provide prescriptive policy recommendations or propose specific doctrinal reforms. It does not attempt to account for all factors shaping outcomes in either war, including broader strategic, political, or interagency dynamics. Notably, this analysis seeks to avoid attributing operational outcomes solely to cultural and linguistic deficiencies, instead isolating cultural and linguistic competence as a critical, yet insufficiently institutionalized, variable contributing to these failures.
Recommended Citation
Ha, Kylie W., "Lessons Unlearned: Cultural Competence and the Limits of U.S. Army Doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan" (2026). CMC Senior Theses. 4154.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4154
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Defense and Security Studies Commons, International Relations Commons, Military and Veterans Studies Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons
