Conservative arch-pundit George Will will use his column in tomorrow’s Washington Post to urge President Obama to get our troops out of Afghanistan: …forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces [...]
Archive for August, 2009
George Will: “Time for the U.S. to Get Out of Afghanistan”
Posted: August 31, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: George Will, Russ Feingold. Afghanistan
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Finding Our Footing Again
Posted: August 31, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, anti-war movement, Brave New Foundation, Jon Soltz, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Greenwald, VoteVets.org
The New York Times over the weekend reported that the anti-war movement is gearing up to challenge President Obama on Afghanistan: A restive antiwar movement, largely dormant since the election of Barack Obama, is preparing a nationwide campaign this fall to challenge the administration’s policies on Afghanistan. This is the best news I’ve read in [...]
Compounding the Error
Posted: August 30, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan, counterinsurgency, Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq, Hamid Karzai, Mohammed Qasim Fahim
The New York Times pegs the original sin of the U.S. policy in Afghanistan: In hindsight, several current and former administration officials say they have come to believe the decision to turn a blind eye to the warlords and drug traffickers who took advantage of the power vacuum in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, [...]
We Know Failure When We See It
Posted: August 29, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Bruce Riedel, counterinsurgency, General McChrystal, Pashtuns, Rethink Afghanistan
I’ve been mulling over the dodgy answers (if you can even call them answers) given by Ambassador Holbrooke and Defense Secretary Gates when they were recently asked to define success in Afghanistan or to speculate about how long Americans should expect to be fighting a war there. In case you missed these, take a look. [...]
2009 Already the Deadliest Year for U.S. and Allies in Afghanistan
Posted: August 25, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, troop deaths
The Times breaks the bad news: Four American soldiers died in a roadside bomb in Afghanistan today, making 2009 the deadliest year for foreign troops there since the 2001 invasion. With four months of the year still to go, today’s deaths in Helmand province bring the number of foreign forces killed in 2009 to 295, [...]
Senator Feingold Wants a Withdrawal Timetable for Afghanistan
Posted: August 25, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Feingold, Rethink Afghanistan
In an editorial board meeting with the Appleton Post-Crescent, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) said it’s time for a withdrawal timetable for our forces in Afghanistan. Feingold was the first U.S. Senator to publicly state the need for a withdrawal date from Iraq. Today he became the first senator to say the same about our war [...]
CAP’s Lawrence Korb: More Fringe than Orly Taitz?
Posted: August 24, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Bruce Riedel, Evan Frisch, George Lakoff, Lawrence Korb, Osama bin Laden, Peter Paul and Mary, surgers, war on terror
It’s not easy to craft an argument more fringe than those of the Birthers, but Center for American Progress’ Lawrence Korb managed to get the job done in his recent wrong-headed piece on Afghanistan. A recent ABC/Washington Post poll showed that 59 percent of Democrats want troop levels decreased in Afghanistan, versus 29 percent of [...]
Meet Your Afghan Warlords, Part Two: Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq
Posted: August 21, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq, warlords
This is the second in a series of posts to help Americans get to know some of the most powerful figures in the Afghan government for whom our troops are killing and dying. Today we’ll meet a warlord’s warlord: the kind that engineers immunity for his and his fellow war criminals’ crimes against humanity. Meet [...]
Spinning the Afghan Vote
Posted: August 20, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghan election, Afghanistan, Malalai Joya
Here are a few quotes for your consideration: Me, on July 28: The timing of Holbrooke’s comments defending the legitimacy of the election, coming before the election takes place, exposes the game plan for the weeks ahead. Holbrooke is seeking to preempt questions about election legitimacy before the election takes place because the administration plans [...]
Fraud and Press Censorship Taint Afghan Vote
Posted: August 20, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghan election, Afghanistan, Karzai, warlords
The election is on in Afghanistan, which means vote fraud and media censorship are the name of the game today. IPS News Analyst Gareth Porter yesterday published a story that detailed a massive vote fraud campaign intended to re-elect Hamid Karzai. According to Porter, Karzai’s vote fraud scheme includes: Alliances with warlords, who will deliver [...]
