text: Foundations of Insurgency
  • Role.
  • Activities.
  • Associates.
  • Personal background.
  • Personal beliefs, motivations, and ideology.
  • Education and training.
  • Temperament.
  • Position within the organization.
  • Public popularity.
  OBJECTIVE
  2-22. Insurgencies normally seek to achieve one of three objectives: to overthrow the existing
  government in order to reallocate power, to expel whom they perceive to be “outsiders” or “occupiers," or
  to seek to create or maintain a region where there is little or no governmental control that they can exploit.
  Insurgents’ objectives include struggles for independence against colonial powers; the rising up
  of political, ethnic, or religious groups against their rivals; and resistance to foreign invaders. The central
  issue in an insurgency is the reallocation of power. Usually, an insurgency mounts a political challenge to
  the existing state through the formation of a counter state, which is promoted as an alternative to the
  existing state.
  2-23. Understanding the root causes of the insurgency is essential to analyzing the insurgents’
  objectives. Effective analysis of an insurgency requires knowing its strategic, operational, and tactical
  objectives. These objectives can be psychological in nature, physical in nature or a combination of the two.
  STRATEGIC
  2-24. The insurgent’s overall political goals are their strategic objectives. The set of required conditions
  that define achievement of the insurgents’ objectives are their desired end state. Examples of strategic
  objectives include—
  • Overthrow an established government.
  • Establish an autonomous national territory.
  • Cause the withdrawal of a foreign occupying power.
  • Extract political concessions.
  OPERATIONAL
  2-25. Insurgent operational objectives are those that insurgents pursue to destroy government legitimacy
  and progressively achieve their political end state. These are the means they use to link tactical goals with
  strategic end states. They often target the government’s inability to address the root causes that lead to the
  insurgency. The insurgent’s operational objectives define their overall plan, although most insurgents will
  not have a formal plan. These objectives are based on the insurgent’s strategy across political, military,
  economic, and social objectives. Examples of operational objectives include—
  Political
  2-26. Disrupt elections; develop or strengthen an insurgency’s political wing, attack government
  legitimacy; gain recognition of their political party by the government; attack the legitimacy of the
  government; or gain ability to run candidates for elected office
  Military
  2-27. Disrupt operational lines of communication and supply routes; force US or HN units out of an
  area; keep government forces in their bases; draw US or HN forces into fight; or provoke over-reaction
  from US or HN forces, which result in media-reported civilian casualties.