washingtonindependent.com - 11/2/2009
—
Ah, the Friedman unit , that beloved Internet tradition denoting the six-month increment many pundits believe will prove decisive in any war, only to be subject to an endless addition of … Friedman units. In the course of this very good New York Times piece outlining the stakes for President ...
taylormarsh.com - 10/30/2009
—
taylormarsh.com —
This post has been edited and updated with
reporting from the event. The event today, “Afghanistan: Basic...
Questions – Strategic Choices,” was organized by the Rand Corp., with Steve Clemons of NAF. As backdrop, ...
(more)
Afghanistan in the Caucus Room: Levin Slams Cheney
mudvillegazette.com - 11/4/2009
—
mudvillegazette.com —
Al Jazeera : Hamid Karzai listened to a
mixture of congratulations and straight talking down the telephone...
from President Obama on Monday just hours after Mr. Karzai was declared the winner of the Afghan elections by default. President Obama made clear what the United States expects. ...
(more)
Plan B
mudvillegazette.com - 10/31/2009
—
mudvillegazette.com —
( Part one here ) ***** As the
scheduled November 7 second round election date draws near,...
last minute efforts to replace the Karzai government in Afghanistan are moving into high gear. From London : Dr Abdullah Abdullah is meeting his main allies in Kabul today and tomorrow to ...
(more)
Round two (part two)
Comments
Blog Reactions
Our Knowledge Problem in Afghanistan Won’t Be Solved in One Friedman Unit
Matthew Yglesias —
... Like Spencer Ackerman I’m skeptical. What can you really tell in six months? Karzai knows we’re considering sending more support to his government. He also knows we’re concerned about corruption. So he’ll almost certainly deliver on some kind of anti-corruption measure. But will it be effective? Will it even be intended to be effective? It would be the easiest thing in the world to make a big show of curtailing abuses by one or both of the other Karzai brothers, and then ease up as soon as attention drifts elsewhere. ...
Afghan 'Fiasco'
Opinionator —
... As observers scramble to figure out where Afghanistan goes from here, Spencer Ackerman thinks he is hearing echoes of Iraq War rhetoric. An anonymous administration official told the Times over the weekend that “we’re going to know in the next three to six months whether [Karzai is] doing anything differently — whether he can seriously address the corruption, whether he can raise an army that ultimately can take over from us and that doesn’t lose troops as fast as we train them.” “ Ah, the Friedman unit ,” says Ackerman, “that beloved Internet tradition denoting the six-month ...
Afghanistan Mission Creep Watch - The Hyman Roth Version
democracyarsenal.org —
... I'm sure Hamid will get right on that. We Americans are just adorable - adorable I tell you! Along these lines, an additional shout out to Spencer for finding this precious quote from an administration official in ...
Leveraging Karzai And Outflanking Obama
Newshoggers.com —
... presser as always, has just reported that Gibbs has refused to be drawn on specific anti-corruption measures the U.S. will demand of Hamid Karzai, saying only that the U.S. Embassy in Kabul was working on the matter.
The trouble with the Embassy working on it is that the folk there don't have the authority to do the only thing that could conceivably have any effect - announce a withdrawal timetable.
Michael Cohen nails it:
[A] shout out to Spencer for finding this precious quote from an administration official in another ...
Related Content
Friedman’s Vote on Afghanistan
outsidethebeltway.com 10/28/2009 — Columnist Thomas Friedman has put in his vote for what we should do in Afghanistan: Don’t Build Up
It is crunch time on Afghanistan, so here’s my vote: We need to be thinking about how to reduce our footprint and our goals there in a ...
Round Two
mudvillegazette.com 10/28/2009 —
By the looks of it, this NY Times story was going to tell the whole truth : The Great American Arm-Twist in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- By the looks of it, the ceremony that unfolded last week inside the Presidential Palace here was marking a joyous, even triumphant, occasion.
...
Eight Years Later, We Still Don’t Get It in Afghanistan
commondreams.org 10/17/2009 — by Ted Rall Eight years. We’ve been in Afghanistan longer than any other war in American history. The party of the president who invaded Afghanistan has been repudiated at the polls. Yet we still haven’t altered the flawed strategy that allowed ...
The CIA Is In Afghanistan
justoneminute.typepad.com 10/28/2009 — Here we go with another leak seemingly intended to undermine the notion that the US can succeed in Afghanistan: KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal...
US Is Doing No Good in Afghanistan
commondreams.org 23 days ago — by Malalai Joya As an Afghan woman who was elected to Parliament, I am in the United States to ask President Barack Obama to immediately end the occupation of my country. Eight years ago, women's rights were used as one of the excuses to start this ...
You Understand Less As the Pages Turn
obsidianwings.blogs.com 18 days ago — by Eric Martin
Back in 2006, a wise man said this:
It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war.
And yet, three years and a rather precipitous ...
Searching for the Exit?
outsidethebeltway.com 23 days ago — The scuttlebutt that’s coming out now in Washington is that President Obama doesn’t much like the plans for Afghanistan offered by his advisors:
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the ...
A Feminist Case for War?
prospect.org 10/27/2009 — Women's rights activists are conflicted over a continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
Take Your Sweet Time, Obama
thedailybeast.com 10/30/2009 — The landscape has changed dramatically since Gen. McChrystal called for a major surge in March. Andrew Exum, who helped draft that report, on the strategic upsides of Obama taking his time.
President Obama is entering the final stages of his...
4 American Military Personnel Die in Afghanistan
nytimes.com 12 days ago — KABUL, Afghanistan Four United States troops have died fighting in Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, NATO said in a statement Monday, as the Obama administration continued deliberations on increasing the number of American forces here. Three died on ...
WH congratulates Karzai, wants reforms —
First Read 11/2/2009
From NBC's Athena Jones President Obama called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to congratulate him on being named the winner of that country's election, and urged him to work to improve governance and end corruption there.
Karzai was named ...
Follow BeltwayBlips on Twitter
