Abstract:  

NATO, under the umbrella of  the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), brought together troops from 28 countries in Afghanistan. ISAF troop consignments were given responsibility for specific operational units. The assignment of responsibilities to different national armed forces could lead to coordination problems. We find that both horizontal frictions and vertical frictions reduce support activities, and they are associated with higher levels of insurgent violence. These findings indicate that misalignment between operational units can undermine the effectiveness of international military operations.