Counterinsurgency campaigns are usually seen as long and costly operations with no real end in sight. Examples of this are both the US and Soviet Union's campaigns in Afghanistan. There is a lot of other examples where a superpower has been stumped by guerilla war.
This study will examine Executive Outcomes successful counterinsurgency campaign against União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) in the Angolan civil war. David Kilcullens theory about success in counterinsurgency campaigns will be used as the theoretical framework.
The results of the study show that Executive Outcomes followed four of the five parts of David Kilcullens theory. EOs success in Angola can be explained by Kilcullens theory but further study is needed.