You’re going to hear a lot of crowing about the reduction in NATO-caused civilian casualties in Afghanistan during the last few months compared to the same time last year. (Read the full report here in PDF format.) This reduction took place in the context of a massive spike in overall violence and a continually degrading [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Taliban’
Before the COINdinistas Start Spinning the UN Report…
Posted: June 19, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, civilian casualties, COIN, COINdinistas, counterinsurgency, insurgent, ISAF, NATO, Rethink Afghanistan, Taliban
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General Petraeus, Concern Troll
Posted: June 18, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Brave New Foundation, ISAF, Jim Jones, Levin, NATO, Obama, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Taliban, war in Afghanistan
Watch "Don’t Let General Petraeus Move the Goalposts on Afghanistan" in HD on Facebook. Concern troll. In an argument (usually a political debate), a concern troll is someone who is on one side of the discussion, but pretends to be a supporter of the other side with “concerns”. The idea behind this is that your [...]
Kandahar Bursts Gen. McChrystal’s Counterinsurgency Bubble
Posted: April 14, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Brave New Foundation, counterinsurgency, insurgency, Kandahar, Karzai, Major General Nick Carter, McChrystal, military, Rethink Afghanistan, Taliban, war in Afghanistan, war on terror, war on terrorism
Cross-posted from Rethink Afghanistan. In case you hadn’t heard, the next stop in General McChrystal’s counterinsurgency plan is Kandahar, the ideological heart of the Taliban. Using the spadework done in advance of the Marjah operation as a template, McChrystal says the plan is to: "…do the political groundwork, so that when it’s time to do [...]
U.S., Allies Responsible for Most Marjah Civilian Casualties
Posted: March 9, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Brave New Foundation, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, Helmand, insurgents, Marja, Marjah, Marjeh, NATO, Operation Moshtarak, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Taliban
According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, U.S. and Allied forces have killed and injured more civilians than have the insurgents during Operation Moshtarak. Incredibly, the Pentagon continues to insist that this operation "protects the people." AIHRC’s Feb. 23 press release reports [h/t Josh Mull, our new Afghanistan blog fellow]: "AIHRC is concerned at [...]
Civilian Casualties in Marjah “Inevitable” as Largest Military Operation of Afghanistan War Begins
Posted: February 10, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, airstrikes, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, Helmand, Larry Nicholson, Marjah, Obama, Rethink Afghanistan, Taliban, war in Afghanistan
Military officials say that civilian casualties in Marjah, Afghanistan are “inevitable” as U.S. and allied forces launch Operation Moshtarak, the largest military action since the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Thanks in part to conflicting messages from ISAF and in part due to some residents’ inability to flee, many civilians remain in Marjah, in [...]
NATO Airstrike Kills Another Three Civilians
Posted: December 18, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, Helmand, ISAF, Kandahar, NATO, Operation Khanjar, Rethink Afghanistan, Taliban, war in Afghanistan
AFP reports that a NATO airstrike from a helicopter gunship killed three civilian men and wounded a woman in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. NATO’s International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) press release claims the helicopter crew fired at men placing IEDs next to the road and afterwards “discovered civilians in a car adjacent to the IED site.” [...]
An Interview with Matthew Hoh
Posted: November 21, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, al-Qaida, COIN, counterinsurgency, Karl Eikenberry, Matthew Hoh, Rethink Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, Taliban
Note: Derrick Crowe is the Afghanistan blog fellow for Brave New Foundation / The Seminal. Learn how the war in Afghanistan undermines U.S. security: watch Rethink Afghanistan (Part Six), & visit http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog. If Matthew Hoh could tell you one thing to help you understand the U.S.’s predicament in Afghanistan, he’d tell you: The presence of our ground combat troops [...]
SecDef. Robert Gates & Friends Think Al-Qaida Has a Commitment to Truth
Posted: October 17, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Adam Rawnsley, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, al-Qaida, COIN, counterinsurgency, propaganda, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, safe havens, Taliban
Derrick Crowe is the Afghanistan blog fellow for Brave New Foundation / The Seminal. Learn how the war in Afghanistan undermines U.S. security: watch Rethink Afghanistan (Part Six), & visit http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is showing his Bush Administration credentials by tossing around any and all justifications for continued U.S. military action in Afghanistan [...]
Cursing the Darkness
Posted: October 14, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, al-Qaida, Foreign Policy Magazine, landmines, Michael Scheuer, Pakistan, Rethink Afghanistan, Taliban
Note: Derrick Crowe is the Afghanistan blog fellow for Brave New Foundation / The Seminal. Learn how the war in Afghanistan undermines U.S. security: watch Rethink Afghanistan (Part Six), & visit http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog. At least Michael Scheuer’s snarling, morally bankrupt piece (oddly promoted as the front-page story on Foreign Policy Magazine‘s website) correctly diagnoses the problem [...]
Quetta and Meltdown: U.S. AfPak Policy Visits Crazy Town
Posted: September 28, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, al-Qaida, Andrew Exum, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, counterinsurgency, drones, Joshua Foust, Kilcullen, Pakistan, Quetta Shura, Taliban
Note: Derrick Crowe is the Afghanistan blog fellow for Brave New Foundation / The Seminal. You can learn more about the dangers posed to U.S. national security by the war in Afghanistan by watching Rethink Afghanistan (Part Six): Security, or by visiting http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog. Apparently I underestimated the U.S. government’s capacity for crazy. Last week, I [...]
