SOLARA Participants consider the legal impact of combat actions during a
table-top exercise.

DIILS hosted 17 Participants from 11 countries attending the 2 week
"Stability Operations: Rules of Engagement/Rules on Use of Force -
Afghanistan" (SOLARA) course.  Participants studied and discussed the latest
lessons learned and real-world legal challenges faced by US, ISAF, NATO, and
other forces combating terrorism in Afghanistan, with emphasis on developing
and implementing rules of engagement and rules for the use of force.  SOLARA
is designed for deploying forces, or forces continuing to deploy to
Afghanistan or to other stability operations.

Instructors included, inter alia, representatives of the International
Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations (UN), and a B-1
bomber pilot with Afghanistan experience.  These and other speakers shared a
variety of perspectives on Human Rights, Law of Armed Conflict, and Rules of
Engagement in the context of operations in Afghanistan.

SOLARA's exercises and case studies illustrated the application of legal
principles to combat situations in Afghanistan and the impact of national
caveats on coalition ROE, prompting one participant to say that the Firearms
Training Simulator (FATS) exercise helped him better understand "how
soldiers react to different stress situations."  Another legal advisor
attending the course stated that he plans to draw on his SOLARA experience
to "establish good and symbiotic working relationships with commanders in
peacetime and operational circumstances."

SOLARA will be offered again 22 July to 2 August 2013.

For course report and sample schedule click on the following link: https://www.diils.org/resource/solara-12010-merged-finalpdf