Washington Post – Petraeus’s Tougher Fight

David Ignatius has a nice review of what General Petraeus’ strategy will be…

New York Times – In Afghanistan, Soldiers Bridge 2 Stages of War

New York Times – Turning Tables, U.S. Troops Ambush Taliban With Swift and Lethal Results

New York Times – Pinned Down, a Sprint to Escape Taliban Zone

Here are three other articles written by acclaimed journalist and former Marine officer C.J. Chivers about US Army troops in Afghanistan in April 2009.

New York Times – A Young Marine’s Dream Job

Journalist C.J. Chivers, a former Marine, visits a Marine unit in Afghanistan.

Small Wars Journal – Crunch Time in Afghanistan-Pakistan

Counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen analyzes the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Washington Post – A Conversation With David Kilcullen

Counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen on the current situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan…

Wall Street Journal – U.S. Strategy in Afghan War Hinges on Farflung Outposts

President Barack Obama is hoping to boost the flagging war effort in Afghanistan by sending 17,000 reinforcements. Most of them will be deployed to small, remote bases such as Seray, a walled compound of trenches and fortified buildings near the Pakistan border. Many of these new outposts will be in eastern and southern Afghanistan, the most violent parts of the country.

But will the troops in these tiny redoubts be able to carry out the often conflicting missions of fighting insurgents and building relationships with local villagers, or will these soldiers and Marines merely be easy targets?

The Guardian – ‘Pashtunistan’ holds key to Obama mission

The mountainous borderlands where Afghanistan meets Pakistan have been described as a Grand Central Station for Islamic terrorists, a place where militants come and go and the Taliban trains its fighters. Now Barack Obama has made solving the ‘Af-Pak’ question a top priority. But could the battle to tame the Pashtun heartland become his Vietnam?

Daily Telegraph – War in Afghanistan ‘could be lost by summer’

The war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan will be lost by the end of the summer without dramatic changes in counter-insurgency strategy, according to John Nagl.

New Republic – Obama Versus Osama

John Nagl’s view of what it will take to “win” in Afghanistan…

New Yorker – Letter From Pashmul: Policing Afghanistan

Patrolling a Taliban stronghold – an ethnic-minority force enters a Taliban stronghold.

Foreign Affairs – From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Ahmed Rashid writes that the crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan is beyond the point where more troops will help. U.S. strategy must be to seek compromise with insurgents while addressing regional rivalries and insecurities

Washington Post – U.S. Seeks New Supply Routes Into Afghanistan

Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics…

New York Times – Robert D. Kaplan on why Afghanistan is more than a manhunt, and how it does matter, for reasons that have not been fully fleshed out by policy makers or the military.
more…

World Politics Review – Urs Gehriger of the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche recently spoke with Nagl about the success of Gen. David Petraeus’ counterinsurgency tactics in Iraq, and what needs to be done to successfully implement them in Afghanistan.
more…

Army Times – The incoming head of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. David Petraeus, plans to form a team of under 100 experts to conduct a top-to-bottom strategic assessment of CentComís area of responsibility. Petraeus tapped Col. (P) H.R. McMaster to lead the Joint Strategic Assessment Team, or JSAT.
more…

The Atlantic – Iraq-style counterinsurgency is fast becoming the U.S. Armyís organizing principle. Is our military preparing to fight the next war, or the last one?
more…

Vanity Fair – With the Pentagon requesting $20 billion more for Afghanistan, and American casualties mounting there, Sebastian Junger rejoins the men of Battle Company at their Korengal Valley outpost. The war has changed them; have they changed the war?

Junger’s previous article from January 2008 is: Into The Valley of Death.
more…

New York Times Magazine – The Taliban and Al Qaeda have established a haven in Pakistanís tribal areas along the Afghan border. This is where the war on terror wil be fought ñ and possibly lost.
more…

Reuters – LTC John Nagl comments on the situation in Afghanistan.
more…

New York Times Magazine – The counterinsurgency in Afghanistanís Korengal Valley is one day after another of difficult decisions and bloody consequences. Hearts and minds are hardening.
more…

New York Times – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the anti-Rumsfeld: cautious, courteous and conciliatory. But will that be enough to bring Washington together on Iraq and Iran?
more…

Air Force – Once again, as in 1938, the bombers show they can find ships at sea.
more…

Army Times – Sean Naylor writes that the American Enterprise Institute, the think tank that came up with the ìsurgeî strategy for Iraq, has just completed a re-evaluation of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and concluded that another surge of U.S. forces is required, this time into southern Afghanistan.
more…

Vanity Fair – A strategic passage wanted by the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Afghanistanís Korengal Valley is among the deadliest pieces of terrain in the world for U.S. forces. One platoon is considered the tip of the American spear. Its men spend their days in a surreal combination of backbreaking labor-building outposts on rocky ridges-and deadly firefights, while they try to avoid the mistakes the Russians made. Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington join the platoonís painfully slow advance, as its soldiers laugh, swear, and run for cover, never knowing which of them wonít make it home.
more…

Wall Street Journal – An inside look at the US Army’s new Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Academy.
more…