article.nationalreview.com - 2/9/2009
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resident Obama has said many times that America must succeed in Afghanistan . He is right, and he deserves our full support in that effort. Afghanistan is in many respects harder to understand than Iraq was. Even with a good strategy and sufficient resources, success will almost certainly come ...
longwarjournal.org - 2/9/2009
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longwarjournal.org —
At least one squad of the joint Taliban-al
Qaeda Shadow Army operating in Swat. Al Qaeda has...
reorganized its notorious paramilitary formations that were devastated during the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002. Al ...
(more)
Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army'
michaelyon-online.com - 2/10/2009
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michaelyon-online.com —
10 February 2009 While we prepare to shunt
perhaps 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan (which still will...
not be enough), Russia continues to play the Asian chessboard. The Russians are picking off pawn after pawn, and steadily eroding our foreign ...
(more)
How Much is Afghanistan Really Worth to Us?
powerlineblog.com - 2/10/2009
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powerlineblog.com —
Barack Obama gave a press conference tonight; the
key topic, of course, was the Democrats' trillion-dollar pork...
bill. My guess is that the widely-televised event helped the Democrats' cause some. Those who weren't paying close attention probably ...
(more)
Obama Takes His Case to the People
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Winning the War in Afghanistan
Weekly Standard Blog —
... At the very least, it seems that some in the Obama administration are trying to lower expectations, if not pave the way for a withdrawal. Over at National Review Online, Frederick Kagan argues against the temptation to cut and run and identifies the principles that should guide the right approach to Afghanistan. ...
Planning Victory in Afghanistan
Michael Yon - Online Magazine —
Fred Kagan is a very smart man and dedicated to winning. When Mr. Kagan talks, I listen. I recently got to talk with him privately for more than two ours in Bahrain. Please see Mr. Kagan's story, published today on National Review Online. {loadposition user8}
The Trouble with 'Modest Expectations'
The American Scene —
... that offers measured praise for President Obama’s approach thus far. The core of the speech is that a military surge isn’t enough — Afghanistan also requires a civilian surge, which he outlines. To launch a civilian surge, we actually need to create a sense of urgency about the situation, which is to say we need to raise expectations for what we can achieve in the medium term.
I learned a lot from from Frederick Kagan’s NR survey, which I strongly recommend. When Andrew calls Afghanistan an ungovernable wasteland, I have to ...
Related Content
"Victory" In Afghanistan
andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com 2/11/2009 — Maybe Bob Kagan is beginning to realize that Bob Gates has no illusions about how much we can do in the ungovernable wasteland of Afghanistan: Success in Afghanistan does not require creating a paradise in one of the poorest countries on earth, but ...
Afghanistan Times
swampland.blogs.time.com 3/13/2009 — There are dueling op-eds about Afghanistan policy in the New York Times today, by Les Gelb and by Max Boot and the Kagan Family Singers . The headlines are more extreme than the pieces: Gelb wants to withdraw from Afghanistan (but not really) and ...
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 ...
Get Afghanistan Right!
getafghanistanright.com 1/12/2009 — Get Afghanistan Right Week posted on January 12th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum at The Seminal As you may have noticed or may have heard, The Seminal has a new project that is going public this week. Along with fellow bloggers, journalists, and ...
Drama For Obama
mudvillegazette.com 3/17/2009 — Holy s--t, Batman, the danger is imminent : Barack Obama, the US president, is to be told that to avoid a repeat of the devastating 9/11 attacks on America or Britain he must dramatically step up aid to Pakistan.
A team headed by Bruce Riedel, a former CIA Middle East expert, asked to ...
Kissinger: COIN Won’t Work/McCain: CT Won’t Work
outsidethebeltway.com 2/27/2009 — Within the last couple of days both Sen. John McCain and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger have offered contrasting strategies for Afghanistan. John McCain’s plan was explained in a speech before the American Enterprise Institute and ...
My Occupation's Known, but Not Why I Occupy
obsidianwings.blogs.com 3/23/2009 — by Eric Martin
In a recent post , I took issue with Andrew Exum's claim that counterinsurgency (COIN) practitioners are reluctant to endorse undertaking COIN-based missions - a skepticism that stems from their first hand knowledge of the enormous ...
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 ...
Insurgency vs counterinsurgency
pajamasmedia.com 2/10/2009 — Bill Roggio describe’s al-Qaeda’s shadow army in Pakistan. They are mobilizing locals to fight for them.
The Shadow Army is active primarily in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the Northwest Frontier Province, and in eastern and southern ...
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