Outside the Beltway

Todays’ horrific attack on the UN complex in Mazar-i Sharif may well the the Tet Offensive of Afghanistan: a relatively minor event that permanently changed the American public’s view of the war.

Ten days after sending American forces into kinetic military action in Libya, President Obama addressed the nation to explain “what we’ve done, what we plan to do, and why this matters to us.”

The uneasy coalition that coalesced around action in Libya will be strained by decisions to come.

The American military personnel system works against keeping the best and brightest officers in the service.

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

Hamid Karazi says that the United States needs to reduce it’s military presence in his country. Perhaps we should listen to him.

The military surge in Afghanistan appears to be having little impact on the Taliban.

Support for the Tea Party is at record levels but that movement does not have a coherent policy platform. Can the energy be harnessed to good use?

Four news items and articles about China that have caught my eye.

The American military is on a mission in Afghanistan that the public is increasingly starting to question.

While President Obama is pushing the Afghanistan surge, large numbers of elected Democrats are demanding we get out.

Three different ways they’re viewing the leaked “war logs” across the Pond.

Will the Wikileaks document dump give even further impetus to the growing sentiment that the United States needs to leave Afghanistan ?

The scumbags at WikiLeaks have published a huge trove of classified documents provided to them by one or more traitors in our military.

General Stanley McChrystal retired with full honors while being lauded by the Secretary of Defense.

Now we’re doubling down on the Karzai government.

We need to ask ourselves some tough questions on Afghanistan.

The public is growing tired of America’s Longest War.

The odds that David Petraeus will be able to pull off a miracle in Afghanistan like he did in Iraq are very slim.

Stanley McChrystal’s fate is the story of the day, but there’s a broader message in the Rolling Stone story, and it has broad implications for the future of the Afghan War.