A01=Alexander Noyes
A01=Richard Bennet
Afghanistan
Arms
Author_Alexander Noyes
Author_Richard Bennet
Category=JPQB
Category=JPSD
Category=JW
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Iraq
Military
National Security
Ukraine
United States
War
Washington
Product details
- ISBN 9780300278309
- Dimensions: 156 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 26 May 2026
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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An in-depth examination of how the United States can build more effective partner militaries
Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale attempts to build partner militaries in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam cost the United States billions of dollars and ended ignominiously, with the collapse of local forces as American troops withdrew. Arms transfers of sophisticated, American-made weapons often appear to do more harm than good. Yet military assistance and support—operating indirectly through partners—when done right, can deliver remarkable strategic results for the United States and its partners. How to work effectively with partner militaries is one of the most pressing national security challenges for the United States today.
Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes offer a systematic look at military assistance in the twenty-first century, examining a frequently deployed but often misunderstood set of tools that allows the United States to leverage partner militaries to achieve national security objectives. Bennet and Noyes posit that two main factors—the degree of interest alignment on security issues and the level of institutional capacity of the receiving force—will be the most important variables in Washington’s ability to build militarily effective partners.
Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale attempts to build partner militaries in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam cost the United States billions of dollars and ended ignominiously, with the collapse of local forces as American troops withdrew. Arms transfers of sophisticated, American-made weapons often appear to do more harm than good. Yet military assistance and support—operating indirectly through partners—when done right, can deliver remarkable strategic results for the United States and its partners. How to work effectively with partner militaries is one of the most pressing national security challenges for the United States today.
Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes offer a systematic look at military assistance in the twenty-first century, examining a frequently deployed but often misunderstood set of tools that allows the United States to leverage partner militaries to achieve national security objectives. Bennet and Noyes posit that two main factors—the degree of interest alignment on security issues and the level of institutional capacity of the receiving force—will be the most important variables in Washington’s ability to build militarily effective partners.
Richard Bennet is a senior research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. Alexander Noyes is a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
