Elbridge Colby Featured in The Washington Examiner (Book Review)

“Physical force, especially the ability to kill, is the ultimate form of coercive leverage. While there are other sources of influence, such as wealth, persuasiveness, and charisma, they are all dominated by the power to kill,” Elbridge A. Colby writes in The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict. When the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan rushed to strip themselves of their ability to kill or to help Afghan government forces kill, terrorists took advantage. High-minded thoughts about diplomacy meant nothing. As Colby notes, “Hard power always has the capacity to dominate soft power.”

The Washington Examiner