Minor FSO Resigns, Panic Ensues
An incredibly junior foreign service officer has resigned over disagreement with our AfPak policy, prompting a high level scramble within the administration and a long feature in the Washington Post. As I wrote in "While Obama Dithers," a piece for New Atlanticist, They've brought this on themselves. Granted, President Obama inherited this war and his people may have fought it differently had ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 27, 2009 09:04
Maintaining Commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan
Month to date there have been four U. S. casualties in Iraq. Each death remains a tragedy but that's a far cry from a year ago or two years ago. Fatalities in the Iraqi security forces have declined, too, each month of this year seeing fewer casualties than in the corresponding month of last year. Things are ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 25, 2009 19:07
A Case for Humility in Afghanistan?
Stephen Coll, president of the New America Foundation, has an article in Foreign Policy making the case for more humble objectives in Afghanistan. In the article he criticizes both the counter-insurgency strategy advocated by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U. S. forces in Afghanistan: To succeed, counterinsurgency approaches require deep, supple, and adaptive understanding of local conditions. And yet, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 18, 2009 10:50
Biden Right on AfPak
Ariana Huffington has generated quite a bit of buzz for her unlikely-to-be-taken suggestion that Vice President Biden resign in protest if President Obama sends more troops to Afghanistan. The cuteness of the suggestion has unfortunately overshadowed the opening paragraph in Holly Bailey and Evan Thomas' Newsweek piece on "A Day in the Life of Joe Biden" (HTML title: "Joe Biden, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 15, 2009 16:24
The Debate on Afghanistan
The debate over our policy in Afghanistan continues in the nation's opinion pages. Robert Kaplan in The Atlantic makes the case for counter-insurgency: Obama needs to get behind his chosen general as soon as possible and put this spectacle of indecisiveness behind him. Gen. McChrystal must become the face of a policy that is supported at every level of the Administration, just ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 13, 2009 11:11
Advice from the Saudis on Afghanistan
In this morning's Washington Post Prince Turki al-Faisal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, former director general of their intelligence service and also their former ambassador to the United States offers President Obama some advice on how to proceed in Afghanistan with which I find I am in almost complete agreement. His advice consists of six action items: There is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 9, 2009 11:34
Why “Befuddled”?
Leslie Gelb, distinguished diplomat, journalist, and scholar, professes befuddlement over President Obama's strategy with respect to Afghanistan: I'm lost on President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy—along with most of Congress and the U.S. military. Not quite eight months ago, Mr. Obama pledged to "defeat" al Qaeda in Afghanistan by transforming that country's political and economic infrastructure, training Afghan forces and adding 21,000 ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 22, 2009 11:11
NYT and the Farrell Rescue
[caption id="attachment_41922" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Corporal John Harrison (left) was killed in the SAS-led operation to rescue British journalist Stephen Farrell (right), which was launched after officials received intelligence that he was about to be moved into Pakistan's tribal areas"][/caption] Tunku Varadarajan argues the New York Times has a moral obligation for getting two people killed by sending Stephen Farrell into ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 15, 2009 13:39
The Limits of Afghanization (Updated)
Add Chuck Hagel to the chorus of voices rising in opposition to the escalation of our military commitment to Afghanistan: No country today has the power to impose its will and values on other nations. As the new world order takes shape, America must lead by building coalitions of common interests, as we did after World War II. Then, international organizations ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 3, 2009 10:15
Today’s MUST Foreign Policy Reading
If you only read one thing today, read the for-the-record answers from the Director of National Intelligence to questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee in April 2009. At the very least read the tickler summary from the blog of the Federation of American Scientists, which has done a genuine service in obtaining this document under the Freedom of Information ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 8, 2009 10:39
Pronouncing ‘Foreign’ Names
Steve Benen brings up a point I've seen made in a few places recently: Dickering over how to pronounce "foreign" names like Sotomayor or Pakistan. I'm in agreement with Mark Krikorian that "Deferring to people's own pronunciation of their names should obviously be our first inclination, but there ought to be limits." Where to draw the line, however, is unclear. He continues ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 27, 2009 12:21
OTB Radio – Tonight at 7 Eastern (Updated)
The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 7-8 Eastern. Joining regular cohost Dave Schuler and myself will be Bill Roggio of The Long War Journal. Bill's coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan has been among the very best and we'll be discussing the most recent developments there on the show tonight. Please join us. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 20, 2009 15:56
Money Is Fungible: Pakistan Edition
Do you recall the aid we've been sending Pakistan so that the Pakistani government will let us supply our troops in Afghanistan via Pakistan, secure their nuclear weapons, and oppose the Taliban and Al Qaeda being harbored within Pakistan's borders? Apparently, Pakistan is seizing the opportunity to build up its nuclear arsenal: WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have been told ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 18, 2009 08:27
Counter-insurgency or Conventional Military in Swat?
In the Financial Times David Kilcullen, one of the architects of the changes in our Iraq strategy, is quoted on the bleak situation in Pakistan: "The Pakistani military has really no capability for what we would call counter- insurgency," he said. "What they are doing in the Swat valley is a conventional offensive against the main- force Taliban . . . ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 13, 2009 10:16
Does Pakistan Face an Existential Challenge?
Fierce fighting continues between the Pakistani military and the militant Islamist Taliban fighters that have taken control of the Swat valley and neighboring areas northwest of Pakistan's capital in Islamabad: May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistani army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said he has told troops to ensure minimum collateral damage by resorting to “precision strikes” in the operation against Taliban ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 13, 2009 10:01
