Unfortunately, President Obama missed a valuable opportunity tonight to demonstrate that he is fully committed to success in Afghanistan. Instead he stubbornly reiterated his July 2011 withdrawal date. Obama rightly said Americans should not lose sight of what is at stake in Afghanistan and that the U.S. must prevent the country from again becoming a terrorist safe haven. But his subsequent declarations that U.S. forces will only be in place for a limited time and that “wars cannot go on forever” revealed his impatience with the current counterinsurgency strategy and …
“Can we improve the Afghanistan Government? Maybe. Can we do it by July 2011? No.” This statement came from Dr. David Kilcullen, an expert in counterinsurgency and former advisor to General Petraeus, during rigorous questioning at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) hearing last week titled, “Perspectives on Reconciliation Options in Afghanistan.” Along with Kilcullen, the two other expert witnesses—Ryan Crocker, former Ambassador to Iraq and Pakistan, and Ms. Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International—echoed concerns about the Obama Administration’s insistence on setting a deadline for …
The posting of over 90,000 classified US government documents by Wikileaks has raised fresh questions about the US strategy in Afghanistan. Leaking of classified information, particularly on this scale, has the potential to damage US national security interests and in general should be discouraged. Much of the information from the classified US government documents released over the weekend by Wikileaks was already known to those observing the war over the last nine years. The challenges the US faces in fighting a counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan and in obtaining full Pakistani …
David Cameron’s visit to the United States this week offers the prime minister a major opportunity to assert a stronger British presence on the world stage after a period of notable decline under Gordon Brown. On both Afghanistan and Iran, two key issues likely to feature heavily in his White House meeting on Tuesday, his position should be clear: Britain will stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States in defeating the Taliban and standing up to the Iranian nuclear threat. The world needs robust U.S.-British leadership, which has been …
A front-page story on Afghan-Pakistani relations in today’s Washington Post indicates that Afghanistan and Pakistan are discussing a peace settlement for Afghanistan. While a genuine thaw in relations between the two countries would be welcome, the idea that the U.S. would take a back seat in any effort to negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan defies logic. The U.S. has not lost over 1,000 U.S. soldiers in battle and invested billions of U.S. dollars in Afghanistan only to allow Pakistan to re-install its violent proxies there. President Karzai …
Heritage Middle East analyst Jim Phillips makes a pretty good case that the Israeli confrontation with a convoy at sea bound for Gaza was a set-up by Hamas to provoke an incident that would draw intense criticism on Israel. The Taliban has every reason to try the same tactic by launching a successful attack on US soil. Senior US military officials told The Washington Post that the US has plans for a retaliatory strike on Pakistan if the Taliban hit the US. Furthermore, US officials revealed that the National Security …
According to Reuters, “U.S. military leaders are reviewing options for a unilateral strike in Pakistan if there is a successful attack on American soil tied to the country’s tribal areas, The Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition.” Problem One–military contingency planning is supposed to be secret. Why this information is getting out is far from clear. If it is meant as a deterrent–forget it. Odds are if al Qaeda and the Taliban knew they could prompt attacks on Pakistan by striking the US they would just up their efforts–knowing …
Saturday at 6:30 p.m., authorities were alerted that a Nissan Pathfinder was billowing smoke in the middle of Times Square, New York City. Upon investigation, they found the car was rigged with explosives including “three propane tanks, consumer-grade fireworks, two gasoline containers, [and] wires and two clocks.” No one was hurt, and authorities were able to stop a potentially deadly explosion. New York Governor David Paterson has recently stated that this attempted car bombing was in fact “an act of terrorism.” Both the timing (Saturday night) and location (Times Square) …
After months of mounting frustration with Pakistan over its unwillingness to crack down on Afghan Taliban leaders finding sanctuary on its soil, Pakistan appears to be coming through with cooperation that could help turn the tide in the war in Afghanistan. Following last week’s revelation that the number two Taliban leader, Mullah Baradar, was captured in Pakistan earlier this month, fresh reports indicate that at least three other senior Taliban leaders have also recently been arrested in Pakistan. These include Mullah Abdul Kabir, a deputy prime minister in the former …
The recent capture of the number two Afghan Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Bahadur in Pakistan is a blow to the Afghan Taliban and their ability to coordinate the insurgency in southern Afghanistan. Bahadur’s arrest will help reestablish Pakistan’s counterterrorism credentials with Washington. The Pakistan military leadership also may be seeking to ensure a role in determining the future direction of Afghanistan, at the same time U.S. and coalition forces begin an important offensive in a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province. While it is too early to say whether …
