slate.com - 3/24/2009
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A U.S. Marine in Afghanistan. Click image to expand. A U.S. Marine in Afghanistan With just a week until President Barack Obama flies to Strasbourg, France, for his first NATO conference, his top advisers are still divided over what U.S. policy should be on the summit's No. 1 issue: how to fight ...
michaelyon-online.com - 3/27/2009
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michaelyon-online.com —
27 March 2009 President Obama has just spoken
on AfPak. I closed my eyes and listened closely...
to his words, coming via the BBC from the other side of the world. The President's words were disappointing. He talked about our goal to reach a force ...
(more)
Obama on Afghanistan: Disappointing
foreignpolicyi.org - 3/25/2009
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foreignpolicyi.org —
Afghanistan: Planning for Success The Foreign Policy Initiative
(FPI) invites you to a half-day conference on Tuesday,...
March 31, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. to discuss how the United States and our allies can succeed in Afghanistan. This event will be held at ...
(more)
The Foreign Policy Initiative
wonkroom.thinkprogress.org - 3/26/2009
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wonkroom.thinkprogress.org —
What do you do if your previous organization
— and the ideology behind it — has become...
inextricably bound in the public’s imagination to one of the worst foreign policy blunders in American history? Obviously, shut it down, and ...
(more)
Project For The Rehabilitation Of Neoconservatism
Comments
Blog Reactions
War and Piece —
... March 24, 2009 Slate 's Fred Kaplan : CT or COIN? Obama must choose this week between two radically different Afghanistan options. Posted by Laura at March 24, 2009 06:42 PM
So, What’s the Strategy in Afghanistan?
Outside The Beltway | OTB —
... If President Obama is to convey a clear message to our NATO allies about Afghanistan, he must choose between two competing alternative strategies, counterterrorism or counterinsurgency: With just a week until President Barack Obama flies to Strasbourg, France, for his first NATO conference, his top advisers are still divided over what U.S. policy should be on the summit’s No. 1 issue: how to fight the war in Afghanistan. It’s a debate that the Bush administration never seriously had in the seven years following the post-9/11 invasion. Now, by contrast, in the wake of three ...
Instahoglets Wednesday
Newshoggers.com —
... gets it exactly right on AIG executive Jake DeSantis' resignation letter. "Had the government allowed AIG to fail last fall, DeSantis wouldn't have received anything...The fact that the plight of a millionaire executive (one who actually received his promised bonus) elicits such sympathy from the Right, but the plight of blue collar assembly line workers doesn't says a lot about the ideological prism through which many conservatives view the world."
-- Fred Kaplan at Slate: CT or COIN? Obama must choose this week between two radically different ...
The “civilian surge”
Belmont Club —
... the mammoth military base in the southern city of Kandahar. Under the planned counter-narcotics mission, U.S. or Afghan troops will first offer Afghan farmers free wheat seed in the hope of persuading them to replace their opium crops. If the farmers refuse, U.S. or Afghan personnel will burn their fields, and then again offer them free replacement seeds. A senior U.S. military official described the approach as a “carrot, stick, carrot” effort. Despite the tone of the WSJ’s piece, Fred Kaplan in Slate writes that “with just a week until President Barack Obama flies to ...
Obama to Send More Troops to Afghanistan
The Democratic Daily —
... reflects Vice President Joe Biden’s imprint. He has been arguing internally for a more focused counterterrorism mission rather than a larger, more complex counterinsurgency mission, which would involve significantly more American resources and troops. Though the President plans to endorse the concepts of counterinsurgency as a means to fight the Taliban, it will not be the primary objective of U.S. and NATO troops. U.S. policy also focuses on improving the legitimacy of Afghan government institutions by endorsing anti-corruption drives, by devoting U.S. ...
Everything Old
Jules Crittenden —
... before, but Obama really, really means it this time. Notes that he is banking on some unlikelihoods like the Paks reorienting from India to Afghanistan, and Russia and China being useful. Cruelly notes he is avoiding calling his surge a “surge.” Anyway, I hope it works. A lot of lives depend on it, and a lot will be spent in the process. Look for the actual news some time after the announcement, as particulars of the tug of war between generals vs. pols becomes clearer. Meanwhile, Fred Kaplan at Slate and ...
New Af-Pak Strategy: More Effort on Pakistan Needed
Counterterrorism Blog —
... his new Pakistan-Afghanistan strategy today. Except for advocates of a strict counter-terror strategy in Afghanistan (as opposed to the administration’s plans for a counter-insurgency strategy that includes a healthy dose of nation-building), there is little to disagree with in the specifics. But in the big picture, while a new strategy may be needed for Afghanistan – the key front may be Pakistan. ...
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"There is little doubt that our greatest military challenge
right now is ...
Obama Says a Way Out of Afghanistan Is Needed
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Troop Surge in Afghanistan Means No Progressive Consensus
dailykos.com 2/21/2009 — President Barack Obama's Tuesday announcement that the U.S. will be adding 17,000 fresh troops to those already fighting in Afghanistan upended hopes among some progressives that the 60-day policy review he announced February 10 would be completed ...
The Case for the Middle Path in Afghanistan
democracyarsenal.org 3/25/2009 — As the President moves to make a decision in Afghanistan three schools of thought have emerged on what he should do. The President could choose to go all in. He could choose a minimalist strategy. Or he could opt for something in ...
The Cost Of A COIN War In Afghanistan
newshoggers.com 3/19/2009 — By Steve Hynd
It's apparently a taboo subject - no-one wants to talk about how much a COIN war in Afghanistan will cost or even how long it will last. Conservatives simply don't want to "lose" and don't seem to care about the costs, while ...
Holbrooke Calls for "Complete Rethink" of Drugs in Afghanistan
motherjones.com 3/27/2009 — This morning, after President Barack Obama unveiled his new Afghanistan policy, three senior administration officials held an on-the-record (but no cameras) briefing for White House reporters. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for ...
More Troops for Afghanistan
attackerman.firedoglake.com 2/18/2009 — He promised to do so on the campaign trail, and now he's done it: President Barack Obama has approved a troop increase to Afghanistan. His just-released statement is below. Notice that the forces approved appears to be less than the 20,000-30,000 ...
McCain on Afghanistan at AEI
weeklystandard.com 2/25/2009 — Senator McCain is just now delivering a speech at AEI on the war in Afghanistan. Some highlights:
"Success is possible in Afghanistan. Afghans reject the Taliban. Just 4 percent of Afghans wish them to rule the country, and they rate the Taliban ...
Get Afghanistan Right
dailykos.com 1/13/2009 — An ad hoc group of bloggers has come together for the purpose of opposing a U.S.-led escalation in Afghanistan that is slated to double the number of American troops there. Organized by Alex Thurston at The Seminal and Robert Greenwald's ...
The Ethics of Afghanistan
openleft.com 4/10/2009 — There are many ways to answer that question. However, the primary way the question should be approached is ethical: will our continued, escalated military action in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) prevent more human suffering than it causes?
As ...
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