Outside the Beltway

President Obama is reportedly considering a plan that would keep up to 5,000 American troops in Afghanistan past the withdrawal date he had already set.

Your tax dollars at work.

The Taliban dealt a major defeat to a numerically superior Afghan Army force, raising questions about just how well Afghanistan can defend itself on its own.

The Afghan Army isn’t doing so well against the Taliban right now.

A well-founded fear of ISIS seems to be drawing many of the former Soviet Republics in Central Asia closer to Moscow.

We live in a random and chaotic universe.

U.S forces in Afghanistan have been involved in missions that go far beyond the counterterror mission the Obama Administration said they would be limited to.

Bowe Bergdahl will face charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, and the White House’s narrative about this release lies in tatters.

The Atlantic has a fascinating cover story by Graeme Wood titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”

Reports indicate that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is likely to be charged with desertion for leaving his post in 2009, but he’s unlikely to serve time in prison.

The Army’s investigation of the disappearance five years ago of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been referred to a top General, who will decide if a court martial should be convened.

The costs of more than a decade of war are far higher than many ever thought, and we’re still paying the price for the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration while they were being fought.

A day of terror at a school in Pakistan.

The shocking has become routine. We’re no safer because of it.

You thought the American combat role in Afghanistan would end on December 31st? Think again.

We’ve handed off operations in Helmand Province to the Afghanistan army.

Who should own antiquity?

The Khorasan Group is, functionally, al Qaeda. Or is it?

Before leaving office, Hamid Karzai is once again biting that hand that has fed him for the past decade.

Obama’s current policy—tactical level strikes with no obvious long-term strategic aim—may well be the best we can hope for.

The General Accounting Office confirmed what seems clear to anyone who can read a statute.

The various factions in Afghanistan have agreed, at least in principle, to alter the nation’s government as part of a deal to resolve election disputes.

There’s a declared winner in Afghanistan’s Presidential Election, but a cloud hangs over the results.

The South Dakota Republican Party has officially endorsed the impeachment of President Obama.

More bad poll numbers for the President.

My latest for War on the Rocks, “HAGEL: CLIMBING OUT FROM UNDER THE BUS,” has posted.

Thanks largely to Administration mistakes, the Bergdahl deal is not going over well.

The Sharks Vs. Gas Jets Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Trying to make some sense out of a week of outrage.

If someone had seen the signals, perhaps Bowe Bergdahl never would’ve wandered off base and gotten captured.

Contrary to the oft-repeated slogan, the United States has negotiated with terrorists before. And we will do it again.

Not every soldier is a hero. Not even every POW.

Good intentions aren’t an excuse for failure to follow the law.

It’s good that Bowe Bergdahl is free, but questions remain about how he went missing that need to be answered.

The Obama White House rejected Republican criticism of the deal that led to the release of the only American Prisoner Of War from the Afghanistan War.

Petty politics, or valid concerns?

The President’s second speech to the Corps of Cadets is a vast improvement over the first.

Once again, President Obama’s attempt to communicate a foreign policy vision falls short.

Afghanistan’s outgoing President says that his nation doesn’t need American troops to stay after the end of the year.