Last week, the military published an ironically titled “Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan” that wrapped blunt admissions of strategic collapse in typical Pentagon happy talk. Short version: Violence is up 87 percent (p. 39), the insurgency has population sympathy/support in 92 of 121 key regions, and local support for International Security [...]
Posts Tagged ‘war in Afghanistan’
Plagiarism and Afghanistan
Posted: May 4, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Brave New Foundation, civilian deaths, COIN, counterinsurgency, Defense Department, failure, Kandahar, Marjah, McChrystal, Michael Flynn, Michael McMahon, Pentagon, Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, Rethink Afghanistan, Russ Carnahan, war in Afghanistan
1
Pretentious Brutality
Posted: April 16, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, COIN, counterinsurgency, McChrystal, special operations forces, Spencer Ackerman, UNAMA, war in Afghanistan
I usually don’t do this, but I have to take my friend Spencer Ackerman out for a ride. (In my defense, brother, just keep in mind that I’m taking you out for a ride for a blog post in which you took your friend out for a ride. Just sayin’.) And, I want to say [...]
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 [...]
Karzai Flirts With Mullah Omar
Posted: April 7, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Brave New Foundation, corruption, Derrick Crowe, Galbraith, Hamid, Karzai, opium, Peter, Rethink Afghanistan, war in Afghanistan
Here’s my latest video for Brave New Foundation.
President Obama Rejects the Narrow, Dogmatic Views of the Jedi
Posted: February 28, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, Episode III, Gandhi, Jedi, King, Nobel, nonviolence, Obama, Revenge of the Sith, Sith, Star Wars, war, war in Afghanistan
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 [...]
Fallujah, New Orleans and Marja
Posted: February 8, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, air strikes, airstrikes, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, Fallujah, Larry Nicholson, Marja, New Orleans, Obama, Operation Moshtarak, war in Afghanistan
The media is buzzing in anticipation of the impending launch of Operation Moshtarak in Marja, Afghanistan. It will be the biggest military operation of the war so far, and, in many ways, the first fruit of President Obama’s repeated choices to add more troops and firepower to the mess that is the Afghanistan war. Marja [...]
Rethink the State of the Union
Posted: January 26, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Brave New Foundation, Obama, Rethink Afghanistan, state of the union, True Majority, war in Afghanistan
President Obama will give his first State of the Union address on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern. Brave New Foundation’s Rethink Afghanistan campaign wants to make sure this isn’t just a time to sit and watch, but a time to get together with our friends and push back against the expanding Afghanistan war. 20,000 [...]
Pardon the Slow Posting…
Posted: January 14, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Rethink Afghanistan, war in Afghanistan
…I’ve started a great new job with Brave New Foundation, working on their Rethink Afghanistan campaign. This blog will start to refocus a bit on matters of faith and nonviolence in the coming few days, but for now, take a look at what I get paid to do now!
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.” [...]
