– National Journal – It isn’t just people who are dying in Afghanistan. So is an entire concept of war.
Category Archives: Afghanistan
Afghanistan – The Long Road
– National Post – An excellent review of Canada’s 10 year involvement in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan – Putting Afghan Plan Into Action Proves Difficult
– New York Times – C.J. Chivers writes that if the American-led fight against the Taliban was once a contest for influence in well-known and conventionally defined areas – the capital and large cities, main roads, the border with Pakistan, and a handful of prominent valleys and towns – today it has become something else. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the United States military has settled into a campaign for scattered villages and bits of terrain that few people beyond their immediate environs have heard of.
Afghanistan – King David's War
– Rolling Stone – Petraeus has a new plan to finish the war: Double down on a failed strategy.
Afghanistan – Letter From Kabul: The Great Afghan Bank Heist
– New Yorker – Excellent analysis by Dexter Filkins of the corruption that permeates the Afghan government. The telling quote:
“The allegations against many appear to confirm wider suspicions that the vast army of private gunmen here, many hired to escort supply convoys headed for NATO military bases, often accomplish their work by bribing the Taliban to hold their fire. These bribes are believed by officials here and in Washington to be one of the main sources of the Taliban’s income. One Western diplomat told me that bribes paid to Taliban commanders by the private security contractors, along with the other ways the Taliban extort Western money, are themselves enough to finance a robust insurgency. “It costs NATO a hundred and forty thousand dollars to keep a soldier in the field for a year, and a Taliban fighter a fraction of that,” he said. “If just ten per cent of that money gets to the Taliban—through bribes or extortion or whatever—that’s enough to keep five Taliban fighters in the field.””
Afghanistan – The Way Out of Afghanistan
– New York Review of Books – Ahmed Rashid on the current situation in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan – The Last Patrol
– The Atlantic – In the heart of Taliban country, the paratroopers of 2 Charlie begin their final mission, braving snipers, IEDs, and the unrelenting sun.
Afghanistan – Obama: 'We need to make clear to people that the cancer is in Pakistan'
– Washington Post – The third of three articles adapted from “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward.
Afghanistan – Biden warned Obama during Afghan war review not to get 'locked into Vietnam'
– Washington Post – The second of three articles adapted from “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward.
Afghanistan – Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan
– Washington Post – The first of three articles adapted from “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward.
Afghanistan – Bob Woodward book details Obama battles with advisers over exit plan for Afghan war
– Washington Post – President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.
Afghanistan – What’s Inside a Taliban Gun Locker?
– New York Times – CJ Chivers, working with the US Marines, looks at the weapons the Taliban use.
Afghanistan – In Afghanistan, Petraeus will have difficulty replicating his Iraq success
Washington Post – In Afghanistan, Petraeus will have difficulty replicating his Iraq success
Thomas Ricks analyses the situation facing General Petraeus in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan – Teaching the Ropes
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Teaching the Ropes
The Afpak Hands Program may be one of the smartest tools for achieving peace we possess.
Afghanistan – The Runaway General
Rolling Stone – The Runaway General
Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House.
Afghanistan – As Afghan Fighting Expands, U.S. Medics Plunge In
New York Times – As Afghan Fighting Expands, U.S. Medics Plunge In
C.J. Chivers writes that nearly nine years into the Afghan war, the pace for air crews that retrieve the wounded has become pitched.
Afghanistan – What Marja Tells Us of Battles Yet to Come
New York Times – What Marja Tells Us of Battles Yet to Come
C.J. Chivers says that as NATO and Afghan forces flow into neighboring Kandahar Province, where for the next many months the latest high-profile effort to undo the Taliban’s hold will unroll, the continuing fighting in Marja can be read as a sign of problems in the American-led surge. It can also be read as something less worrisome: a difficult period in a campaign always expected to be hard.
Afghanistan – In Afghan Fields, a Challenge to Opium’s Luster
New York Times – In Afghan Fields, a Challenge to Opium’s Luster
The annual Afghan opium harvest finished this month with production sharply down from last year, Afghan farmers and American military officers say. Now, growers and smugglers who had long been unchallenged here face tough choices created by the poor crop and new government and military pressure. They describe an industry approaching a crossroads.
Afghanistan – In Ambush, a Glimpse of a Long Afghan Summer
New York Times – In Ambush, a Glimpse of a Long Afghan Summer
C.J. Chivers is back in Afghanistan with the US Marines.
New York Times – Revisiting Combat Outpost Reilly
Afghanistan – Ahmed Rashid
Q & A – Ahmed Rashid
Excellent interview with Ahmed Rashid, the author of the book “Taliban.”
Afghanistan – Toggling Between Fighting and Outreach in Afghanistan
New York Times – Toggling Between Fighting and Outreach in Afghanistan
CJ Chivers writes that however the Afghan war is faring over all, across the wide and varied expanse of Afghanistan, with all of its political and cultural complexity, one thing is abundantly clear: toggling between fighting and outreach can create head-spinning scenes. Some of these scenes underline the difficulties inherent in a counterinsurgency doctrine that mixes lopsided violence with attempts to make nice. But they also simultaneously demonstrate that the efforts to follow the doctrine far from Kabul, out on remote ground, have become a central part of how the war is waged, even as the merits of the doctrine are quietly debated.
Afghanistan – A Firsthand Look at Firefights in Marja
New York Times – A Firsthand Look at Firefights in Marja
New York Times – Putting Taliban Sniper Fire in Context
C.J. Chivers continues to analyze the Taliban’s fighting ability.
Afghanistan – Man Versus Afghanistan
The Atlantic – Man Versus Afghanistan
Robert D. Kaplan surveys the current situation in Afghanistan. He asks will General Stanley McChrystal be our deus ex machina in Afghanistan? Or just the latest commander to succumb to the impersonal forces of history and geography?
Afghanistan – Prize on the Battlefields of Marja May Be Momentum
New York Times – Prize on the Battlefields of Marja May Be Momentum
Any historian, or any general, would tell you the same: Lose the initiative on the battlefield, and it’s awfully hard to get it back.
Afghanistan – Follow the Bear
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Follow the Bear
A joint team of active-duty U.S. military officers takes a second look at what worked in Afghanistan for the Soviet Union in the late 20th century and suggests that the United States could learn a thing or two from what transpired.
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