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  • NATO Pledges 7,000 More Troops for Afghanistan, NY Times
    Friday, December 04, 2009
    Responding to American entreaties for more soldiers in Afghanistan, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general, announced Friday that the alliance had agreed to contribute a further 7,000 “new forces” to the coalition there following Washington’s decision to commit some 30,000 American reinforcements.
  • Obama homed in on an Afghanistan pullout date, LA Times
    Friday, December 04, 2009
    It started out as a projection from the military, intended only for the ears of the president and his top advisors. But in a war council meeting at the White House less than a month ago, Obama proposed making it public.
  • Gates: 'No deadlines' on troop withdrawal, Wash Post
    Friday, December 04, 2009
    The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, scheduled to begin in July 2011, will "probably" take two or three years, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday, although he added that "there are no deadlines in terms of when our troops will all be out."
  • Surge Strategy Borrows From Bush Argument, Wall Street Journal
    Friday, December 04, 2009
    The Obama administration, faced with mounting Congressional criticism, is trying to build support for its new Afghan strategy by explicitly linking the planned escalation to the Bush administration's 2007 Iraq surge.
  • Lawmakers Challenge Gates, Wall Street Journal
    Friday, December 04, 2009
    The Obama administration began the job of selling its new Afghanistan strategy to skeptical lawmakers, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other top officials arguing that success there was essential to preventing new attacks on the U.S.
  • McChrystal promises Afghan surge results by mid-2010, AFP
    Thursday, December 03, 2009
    The US and NATO commander in Afghanistan on Thursday told lawmakers that a new war strategy would show signs of success next year, saying many of the 30,000 extra troops would head to the south.
  • A deadline written in quicksand, not stone, Washington Post
    Thursday, December 03, 2009
    In his speech to West Point cadets and to the nation on Tuesday night, Obama said he planned, conditionally, "to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011" -- a gesture aimed to assuage the antiwar left. But in questioning top administration officials Wednesday morning, the Senate Armed Services Committee quickly learned that this withdrawal timeline was less a commitment than an aspiration.
  • Obama to let Pentagon deploy even more troops, but numbers remain murky, Washington Post
    Thursday, December 03, 2009
    President Obama has authorized Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to deploy several thousand additional troops, as needed, beyond the 30,000 that Obama on Tuesday said he would send to Afghanistan, according to a Pentagon official.
  • Afghanistan and Pakistan Rattled by Plan for Drawdown, NY Times
    Thursday, December 03, 2009
    President Obama’s timetable for American forces in Afghanistan rattled nerves in that country and in Pakistan on Wednesday, as American diplomats worked to convince the two countries at the center of the president’s war strategy that the United States would not cut and run.
  • Time Limit on Surge Draws Fire, Wall Street Journal
    Thursday, December 03, 2009
    A day after President Barack Obama laid out his plan to send at least 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, his promise to begin withdrawing them as soon as July 2011 had become as divisive as the surge.
  • President's Afghan drawdown plan called risky, 'unrealistic', CNN
    Wednesday, December 02, 2009
    President Obama's timetable for winding down the war in Afghanistan may be too short for the United States to achieve its war aims but too long to hold American public support, observers said Tuesday.
  • With Key Role, Gates Stands to Get Credit -- or Blame, WSJ
    Wednesday, December 02, 2009
    President Barack Obama's new strategy for the flagging Afghan war is largely the handiwork of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who developed the idea of sending U.S. reinforcements and then helped persuade administration officials to support it.
  • Two Messages for Two Sides, NY Times
    Wednesday, December 02, 2009
    President Obama went before the nation on Tuesday night to announce that he would escalate the war in Afghanistan. And Mr. Obama went before the nation to announce that he had a plan to end the war in Afghanistan.
  • Nato must follow US example - PM, BBC News
    Wednesday, December 02, 2009
    Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged all Nato countries to "unite" behind the US in boosting the number of troops they have in Afghanistan.
  • Iraq November death toll lowest since US invasion, AFP
    Tuesday, December 01, 2009
    November was the least bloody month in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, official figures showed Tuesday, despite grim predictions of a rise in violence ahead of elections next year.
  • A test for the blocks needed to rebuild a nation, Washington Post
    Tuesday, December 01, 2009
    The revised strategy for Afghanistan that President Obama will announce Tuesday is expected to focus new resources on training Afghan security forces and shoring up the central government, an approach certain to revive a debate about the possibilities and the limits of nation-building.
  • Obama Sets Faster Troop Deployment to Afghanistan, NY Times
    Tuesday, December 01, 2009
    President Obama has decided to expedite the deployment of 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan over the next six months, in an effort to reverse the momentum of Taliban gains and create urgency for the government in Kabul to match the American surge with one using its own forces, according to senior administration officials.
  • 34,000 troops will be sent to Afghanistan, Washington Post
    Tuesday, December 01, 2009
    President Obama will outline Tuesday night his intention to send an additional 34,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and his vision for an "end game" to the long-running military effort there, according to U.S. officials and diplomatic sources briefed in advance of the speech.
  • U.S. Opts for Limited Surge, WSJ
    Tuesday, December 01, 2009
    President Barack Obama has ordered a revamped war plan for Afghanistan that appears to endorse the military strategy of his top generals but will set limits on U.S. involvement in terms of duration, manpower and money, White House officials said Monday.
  • U.S. Cool to Surge in Afghanistan's Own Force, Wall Street Journal
    Monday, November 30, 2009
    The Obama administration has soured on a call from its top commander to double the size of the Afghan police and army, reflecting the White House's continued skepticism about the Afghan government even as the U.S. prepares a surge of troops into the country, people familiar with the matter say.
  • Afghanistan plan entails more than troops, USA Today
    Monday, November 30, 2009
    The Afghanistan strategy President Barack Obama will detail Tuesday involves more than sending additional forces, experts and officials say, and will give the president a chance to address growing public skepticism.
  • U.S. offers new role for Pakistan, Washington Post
    Monday, November 30, 2009
    President Obama has offered Pakistan an expanded strategic partnership, including additional military and economic cooperation, while warning with unusual bluntness that its use of insurgent groups to pursue policy goals "cannot continue."
  • Obama facing tough selling job on Afghan policy, AP
    Monday, November 30, 2009
    President Barack Obama is preparing to announce a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan on Tuesday, including the addition of thousands more American forces, a clarification of the mission and a path toward disengagement. It will likely be one of the toughest sales jobs of his presidency.
  • Newly deployed Marines to target Taliban bastion, Wash Post
    Monday, November 30, 2009
    Days after President Obama outlines his new war strategy in a speech Tuesday, as many as 9,000 Marines will begin final preparations to deploy to southern Afghanistan and renew an assault on a Taliban stronghold that slowed this year amid a troop shortage and political pressure from the Afghan government, senior U.S. officials said.
  • U.S. Strategy on Afghanistan Will Contain Many Messages, NY Times
    Wednesday, November 25, 2009
    In declaring Tuesday that he would “finish the job” in Afghanistan, President Obama used a phrase clearly meant to imply that even as he deploys an additional 30,000 or so troops, he has finally figured out how to bring the eight-year-long conflict to an end.
  • Surge Targets Taliban Bastion, WSJ
    Wednesday, November 25, 2009
    Commanders in Afghanistan say they will devote the majority of the fresh troops expected from the White House to securing the country's troubled south and will especially target this volatile city, the Taliban's main power base
  • Obama May Add 30,000 Troops in Afghanistan, NY Times
    Wednesday, November 25, 2009
    President Obama said Tuesday that he was determined to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, and his aides signaled to allies that he would send as many as 25,000 to 30,000 additional American troops there even as they cautioned that the final number remained in flux.
  • Obama expects support for more Afghanistan troops, AP
    Wednesday, November 25, 2009
    President Barack Obama expects Americans to support sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan once they understand the perils of losing, and he is preparing to make his case to the nation next week.
  • Talk of war surtax for Afghanistan expenses heats up, LA Times
    Wednesday, November 25, 2009
    As President Obama is preparing to announce a troop increase and new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, several powerful House committee chairmen have proposed a surtax on Americans to pay the future military costs.
  • Obama plans to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, McClatchy
    Tuesday, November 24, 2009
    President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he's called "a war of necessity" in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy
  • Obama Plans Afghan Address Next Week, NY Times
    Tuesday, November 24, 2009
    President Obama has conducted a final meeting on his military review for Afghanistan, administration officials said, and he is planning to explain his decision in an address to the nation next Tuesday.
  • Obama's Afghanistan announcement may be soon, LA Times
    Tuesday, November 24, 2009
    Senior diplomats and Defense officials are reportedly scheduled to testify before Congress next week about the situation, raising expectations that a troop buildup will be announced.
  • IED riddle tougher in Afghanistan, AP
    Tuesday, November 24, 2009
    A senior Pentagon official says that preventing roadside bombs from killing troops has proven to be tougher in Afghanistan than in Iraq because of the austere conditions there.
  • Iraqi parliament passes another election law, Wash Post
    Tuesday, November 24, 2009
    Iraqi lawmakers on Monday approved an amended law to organize parliamentary elections next year, a ballot seen as crucial to U.S. plans to withdraw combat troops.
  • Iraq could join WTO by end of 2011-US official, Reuters
    Monday, November 23, 2009
    Iraq could get membership in the World Trade Organization by end-2011 if it actively pursues accession, which could help the country's rebuilding efforts by boosting trade and investment, a U.S. official said.
  • Afghan provinces get millions to reduce poppies, AP
    Monday, November 23, 2009
    The U.S. on Monday agreed to hand out millions of dollars in development aid to provinces in Afghanistan that have eliminated or reduced the production of opium poppies, the raw ingredient in making heroin.
  • In 3 Tacks for Afghan War, a Game of Trade-Offs, NY Times
    Monday, November 23, 2009
    Should President Obama decide to send 40,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan, the most ambitious plan under consideration at the White House, the military would have enormous flexibility to deploy as many as 15,000 troops to the Taliban center of gravity in the south, 5,000 to the critical eastern border with Pakistan and 10,000 as trainers for the Afghan security forces.
  • Pricing an Afghanistan troop buildup is no simple calculation, LA Times
    Monday, November 23, 2009
    As President Obama measures the potential burden of a new war strategy in Afghanistan, his administration is struggling to come up with even the most dispassionate of predictions: the actual price tag for the anticipated buildup of troops.
  • A bad month in Afghanistan rippled across the US, AP
    Monday, November 23, 2009
    The attack was quick and brazen. With guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells, hundreds of insurgents stormed a remote U.S.-Afghan outpost deep in the mountains of northeast Afghanistan. They attacked simultaneously from three sides - a mosque, buildings and a perch on high ground in the Kamdesh district.
  • A softer approach to Karzai, Wash Post
    Friday, November 20, 2009
    When a team of senior U.S. officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton entered the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday for a dinner meeting, they had little indication of what Afghan President Hamid Karzai planned to discuss, or whether questions about corruption and governance would pitch their host into a foul mood.
  • Gates says Afghan surge could happen swiftly, AP
    Friday, November 20, 2009
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces President Barack Obama sends to Afghanistan could move into the country swiftly, despite logistical hassles that force almost all major deliveries of troops and supplies to go by air.
  • Clinton Emerges as Key Link to Afghan Leader, NY Times
    Friday, November 20, 2009
    It is far from clear that President Obama can depend on President Hamid Karzai to bring order to this violent country, but it is becoming clear that he will depend on Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his go-between in dealing with the mercurial Afghan leader.
  • Why Pakistan Won't Fight the Afghan Taliban, TIME
    Friday, November 20, 2009
    President Barack Obama is about to announce his new strategy for Afghanistan, but the success of whatever option he chooses will depend heavily on Pakistan acting to stop its territory being used to attack Western forces next door. And that's bad news, because the demands of its own domestic counterinsurgency campaign, doubts about the duration of U.S. commitment in Afghanistan and looming political instability in Islamabad have left Pakistan in no hurry to help out.
  • House GOP ups pressure on W.H. on war, Politico
    Friday, November 20, 2009
    House Republican leaders are increasing pressure on the White House to fulfill the troop request by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the nation's top general in Afghanistan, and end an administration war review they say is drifting.
  • Al Qaeda in Iraq becoming less foreign-U.S. general, Reuters
    Thursday, November 19, 2009
    Al Qaeda in Iraq is becoming more Iraqi and less dominated by foreigners as the insurgent group increasingly joins forces with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, the commander of U.S. forces said on Wednesday.
  • US has time to reconsider Iraq drawdown plan-Odierno, Reuters
    Thursday, November 19, 2009
    The U.S. military does not have to decide until April or May whether to push back the end of its combat operations in Iraq due to a possible delay in the country's next election, the U.S. commander said on Wednesday.
  • U.S. Demands Clear Results From Afghan Reforms, NY Times
    Thursday, November 19, 2009
    President Obama’s top diplomat privately pressed Afghan President Hamid Karzai to deliver “measurable results” on governance and corruption as the White House prepared specific new demands to accompany an American troop buildup.
  • Debate Shifts to Afghan Exit Plan, WSJ
    Thursday, November 19, 2009
    President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have turned the focus of Afghan war planning toward an exit strategy, publicly declaring that the U.S. and its allies can't send additional troops without a plan for getting them out.
  • Karzai sworn in, offers few specifics, Wash Times
    Thursday, November 19, 2009
    President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second full term Thursday, promising to fight corruption but offering little in terms of specifics, as hundreds of foreign dignitaries watched for signs of his determination to rid his government of graft and cronyism.
  • Poll finds guarded optimism on Obama's Afghanistan plan, Wash Post
    Wednesday, November 18, 2009
    Most Americans say they think President Obama will come up with a successful strategy for Afghanistan, but few are "very confident" that he will do so, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
  • Pakistani Successes May Sway U.S. Troop Decision, NY Times
    Wednesday, November 18, 2009
    This windswept, sand-colored town in the badlands of western Pakistan is empty now, cleared of the militants who once claimed it as their capital. But its main brick buildings, intact and thick with dust, tell not of an epic battle, but of sudden flight.
  • Afghan, Pakistani Taliban diverge on goals, Wash Times
    Wednesday, November 18, 2009
    Both go by the name "Taliban," but militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly diverging in their ultimate goal. The Pakistanis have joined al Qaeda's campaign to attack Western targets and spread radical Islam while the Afghans want to rid their country of foreign troops but harbor no global ambitions, according to a number of prominent analysts.
  • Obama Says He Is Close to Afghan War Decision, NY Times
    Wednesday, November 18, 2009
    President Obama said Wednesday he was “very close to a decision” on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan and would make his case to the American people for his Afghan strategy in the next “several weeks.”
  • Hillary Clinton makes surprise visit to Afghanistan, CNN
    Wednesday, November 18, 2009
    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Kabul Wednesday in a surprise visit on the eve of the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai.
  • Taliban takeover if troops leave Afghanistan: Abdullah, AFP
    Monday, November 16, 2009
    The Taliban will overrun Afghanistan if international troops pull out, former Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah warned on Monday.
  • U.S. Asks More From Pakistan in War, NY Times
    Monday, November 16, 2009
    The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to expand and reorient its fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, warning that failing to do so would undercut the new strategy and troop increase for Afghanistan that President Obama is preparing to approve, American officials say.
  • Clinton: Demands will accompany any Afghan aid, AP
    Monday, November 16, 2009
    The United States is limiting its goals in Afghanistan and demanding better accountability from that country’s underperforming leader, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday, and she tied additional U.S. civilian help to results from Kabul.
  • Iraqi Province Holds Its Breath as U.S. Draws Down, NY Times
    Monday, November 16, 2009
    Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Youssef caught a fleeting glimpse of the man who wanted him dead. As his armored sport utility vehicle pulled past the battered yellow taxi, the commander of the police in Anbar Province recalled thinking how the driver looked like so many men in this impoverished territory — another poor peasant trying to eke out a living.
  • Op-Ed: Obama must rethink rethinking Afghanistan, LA Times
    Monday, November 16, 2009
    Barack Obama is in danger of giving deliberation a bad name. The decision about whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan was never going to be easy, but events -- and a collision of egos in Kabul -- have conspired to make it even harder.
  • Obama said to want revised Afghanistan options, AP
    Thursday, November 12, 2009
    President Barack Obama won't accept any of the Afghanistan war options before him without changes, administration officials say, amid an argument by his own ambassador in Kabul that a significant U.S. troop increase would only prop up a weak, corruption-tainted government.
  • AP source: US envoy objects to troop increase, AP
    Thursday, November 12, 2009
    The U.S. envoy in Afghanistan, a former Army general who once commanded troops in the country, has objected strongly to emerging plans to send tens of thousands of additional forces to the country, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.
  • Afghanistan: When On Earth Will Obama Make a Decision?, Wall Street Journal
    Thursday, November 12, 2009
    On May 27 1964, President Johnson confided in an aide on a subject that was already starting to become a preoccupation. “The more I stayed awake last night thinking about this thing, the more… It looks like to me we’re gettin’ in to another Korea,” Robert Dallek quotes Johnson saying in Flawed Giant. “And I don’t think it’s worth fighting for and I don’t think we can get out. And it’s just the biggest damn mess… What in the hell is Vietnam worth to me… What is it worth to this country?”
  • Germany’s Guttenberg Visits Afghanistan, Meets Troops, Karzai, Bloomberg
    Thursday, November 12, 2009
    German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to meet with German troops as well as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. and NATO military commander General Stanley McChrystal.
  • Analysis: US low on options in Afghanistan, AP
    Thursday, November 12, 2009
    The United States has issued a clear warning to Afghanistan's president that he must fight corruption, or may not get significantly more U.S. troops. But the Obama administration has a weak hand as it seeks to play tough — with few other options if President Hamid Karzai refuses to go along.
  • NATO hopes to boost training teams in Afghanistan, AP
    Tuesday, November 10, 2009
    NATO leaders expect member states to commit more troops to train Afghanistan's expanding security forces at a meeting of alliance military representatives this month, officials said Tuesday.
  • Japan plans additional $5 billion for Afghanistan, AP
    Tuesday, November 10, 2009
    Japan on Tuesday announced $5 billion in fresh aid to Afghanistan even as it plans to bring home refueling ships supporting U.S.-led forces there. The pledge comes just days before President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo for talks that are sure to focus on the countries' military alliance.
  • The U.S. needs to teach Hamid Karzai a thing or two, LA Times
    Tuesday, November 10, 2009
    Hamid Karzai begins another term as Afghanistan's president with a long to-do list. The Obama administration has made clear to him that he must crack down on corruption, install a team of technocrats to run the country and weed out warlords and narco-traffickers. Those are all important priorities, but there is something else he should be doing as well: acting as a wartime leader.
  • Obama facing 'pivotal' moment on Afghanistan, AFP
    Tuesday, November 10, 2009
    US President Barack Obama faces a "pivotal moment" as he mulls whether to send more troops to Afghanistan and is unlikely to announce his decision until after a trip to Asia, officials said Monday.
  • Afghan insurgents shown on TV with U.S. ammo, AP
    Tuesday, November 10, 2009
    Television footage broadcast Tuesday showed insurgents handling what appears to be U.S. ammunition in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan that American forces left last month after a deadly firefight that killed eight troops.
  • Iraq Passes Crucial Election Law, NY Times
    Monday, November 09, 2009
    After weeks of political stalemate, Iraq approved a law on Sunday to administer a critical national election in January, a significant milestone for its fragile democracy and a step that will allow the rapid withdrawal of American combat forces early next year.
  • Troops in Afghanistan fight swine flu amid war, AP
    Monday, November 09, 2009
    Hundreds of Afghan and international troops already battling a rising militant insurgency are facing a new fight — recovering from swine flu, the virus that has left 11 people dead in the country.
  • U.S., Afghans Target Taliban Region, Wall Street Journal
    Monday, November 09, 2009
    U.S. and Afghan forces are engaging in heavy fighting against the resurgent Taliban militants in the Kunduz and Badghis provinces of northern Afghanistan, pushing into once-peaceful areas overseen by European allies.
  • Afghanistan: Marines bring some calm in Helmand, LA Times
    Monday, November 09, 2009
    When 500 U.S. Marines descended on this Taliban stronghold overnight, Afghan civilians were immediately suspicious about the intentions of the heavily armed Americans.
  • Pakistan Blast Kills Anti-Taliban Mayor, NY Times
    Monday, November 09, 2009
    A mayor who publicly opposed the Taliban was killed in a suicide bombing in a cattle market near the northern city of Peshawar on Sunday, officials said, in what appeared to be an attempt to curtail grass-roots opposition to the militant group.
  • New Afghan violence makes Obama decision tougher, Associated Press
    Friday, November 06, 2009
    President Barack Obama's next move on Afghanistan is growing more difficult by the day. Deadly attacks this week deepened British and U.N. alarm over their commitments, and fresh worries about Iraq could delay the exit of U.S. troops there, squeezing an already overstretched military.
  • Afghan Taliban Says Holding Bodies Of 2 Foreign Troops, Reuters
    Friday, November 06, 2009
    Two members of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan were reported missing Friday and the Taliban said they were holding the bodies of two drowned foreign soldiers.
  • Powerful Afghan Governor Challenges President, Wall Street Journal
    Friday, November 06, 2009
    An escalating quarrel between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a powerful governor is stoking fears of bloodshed in one of the country's more peaceful and prosperous provinces.
  • Brown: UK staying in Afghanistan, but wants reform, AP
    Friday, November 06, 2009
    Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Washington's closest ally in Afghanistan, toughened his tone Friday with this harsh message for the Afghan leadership: Clean up your act - for real this time - or risk a cutoff of support.
  • Veterans groups boost lobbying, Politico
    Thursday, November 05, 2009
    With a White House decision on the direction of the war in Afghanistan still up in the air, and President Barack Obama considering whether to send as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops, veterans groups on opposite sides of the debate are storming Capitol Hill this week to sway congressional opinion.
  • U.N. Relocates Foreign Staff in Afghanistan, NY Times
    Thursday, November 05, 2009
    The United Nations mission in Afghanistan announced plans on Thursday to relocate hundreds of foreign staff members, sending some out of the country, in the wake of a stunning, lethal attack on its workers at a guest house last week, while the mission’s head issued an unusual, public appeal to President Hamid Karzai to implement sweeping political reforms.
  • Pentagon Expected to Request More War Funding, NY Times
    Thursday, November 05, 2009
    The nation’s top military officer said Wednesday that he expected the Pentagon to ask Congress in the next few months for emergency financing to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though President Obama has pledged to end the Bush administration practice of paying for the conflicts with so-called supplemental funds that are outside the normal Defense Department budget.
  • John McCain 'past angry' on Afghanistan, LA Times
    Thursday, November 05, 2009
    Republican Sen. John McCain, who has been urging the White House to support a significant new troop deployment in Afghanistan, says he is "past being a bit angry.''
  • GAO: Contract issues could slow Iraq drawdown, Stars and Stripes
    Wednesday, November 04, 2009
    A series of contracting issues are among the potential complications that could hamper the U.S. drawdown from Iraq, according to a report by the investigative branch of Congress.
  • Karzai Starts Anew With Familiar Vows, Wall Street Journal
    Wednesday, November 04, 2009
    Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for a new government of national unity Tuesday but rejected calls for a high-level purge to combat corruption, after securing a new five-year term.
  • Key role of 'Red Caps' in Afghanistan, BBC
    Wednesday, November 04, 2009
    The deaths of five British soldiers at the hands of a "rogue" Afghan policeman in Helmand Province have focused attention on the role British service personnel play in training local police in war and post-conflict areas.
  • Meet Afghanistan's model police force: inexperience, drugs and double agents, Guardian UK
    Wednesday, November 04, 2009
    The Afghan National police has become known as a badly trained force riddled with drug addicts and, many fear, secret Taliban agents. But the ANP is increasingly seen by both counter-insurgency experts and desperate western politicians as vital to gradually bringing conflict in Afghanistan to a close.
  • Afghanistan's Saigon trap, Guardian UK
    Tuesday, November 03, 2009
    The belated declaration of Hamid Karzai as the winner of Afghanistan's election is a disaster for American and British efforts to find a way out of their never-ending mission there. An election that had been designed to bolster the legitimacy of the Afghan government has had precisely the opposite effect, producing a president elected only through widespread and systematic fraud. Worse still, a counter-insurgency strategy dependent on improving the legitimacy of the Afghan government has foundered as the US finds itself in a similar position to the one it faced in South Vietnam: supporting an illegitimate government with a diminishing ability to control its own territory, all the while trying to find a way not to lose the war.
  • Karzai Vows Corruption Fight, but Avoids Details, NY Times
    Tuesday, November 03, 2009
    President Hamid Karzai, in his first speech since he was declared the winner of the much disputed presidential election, said Tuesday that he wanted to tackle corruption but made no specific commitments to reorganize his administration.
  • Pakistani forces say enter a main Taliban base, Reuters
    Tuesday, November 03, 2009
    Pakistani soldiers have entered a main Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan near the Afghan border and are searching the area, the military said on Tuesday.
  • Pakistan Taliban: 'We are prepared for a long war', AP
    Tuesday, November 03, 2009
    A Taliban spokesman denied Tuesday that Pakistan has won a series of battlefield victories in its offensive in tribal South Waziristan, saying the militants are drawing government soldiers into a trap.
  • Karzai Gets New Term as Afghan Runoff Is Scrapped, NY Times
    Monday, November 02, 2009
    Afghan officials on Monday canceled plans for a runoff presidential vote, declaring President Hamid Karzai the winner after the withdrawal on Sunday of his last remaining challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.
  • Obama's Afghan decision not likely before November 11, Reuters
    Monday, November 02, 2009
    President Barack Obama is unlikely to make a decision on his Afghanistan strategy and sending thousands more troops there before he embarks on his trip to Asia on November 11, a senior administration official said on Saturday.
  • Scattering of Attacks in Iraq, NY Times
    Monday, November 02, 2009
    A week after the deadliest attack in Iraq in more than two years, a scattering of smaller bomb attacks around the country on Sunday raised fears of a sustained escalation in violence as American forces withdraw.
  • Biden and Kurd chief press need for election law, A
    Monday, November 02, 2009
    US Vice President Joe Biden and president Massud Barzani of Iraqi Kurdistan have pressed the need for a key election law to be passed in Baghdad, Kurdish authorities said on Monday.
  • US general in Iraq warns of rise in pre-poll violence, AFP
    Friday, October 30, 2009
    US forces expect insurgents to plan more spectacular attacks like massive bombings in Baghdad last week in the run-up to January polls and are braced for an upswing in violence, a senior general warned in an interview with AFP.
  • UN to boost Afghan security after Kabul attack, Reuters
    Friday, October 30, 2009
    The United Nations plans to boost its security staff in Afghanistan after Taliban militants' deadly attack on a U.N. guesthouse earlier this week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday.
  • Pentagon pressed on Afghanistan IEDs, Politico
    Friday, October 30, 2009
    Concerned by the growing number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan caused by Improvised Explosive Devices, Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-Calif.) on Thursday pressed the Army general in charge of combating the deadly explosives to step up his efforts.
  • Afghanistan Is Tougher Than You Think, National Review
    Friday, October 30, 2009
    In 1833, President Jackson, no slouch when it came to firm leadership, advised, "Always take all the time to reflect that circumstances permit, but when the time for action has come, stop thinking." Conservatives who deplore what they see as President Obama's indecision about Afghanistan overlook the first clause. Obama is right to think, and think hard, before acting.
  • Obama Seeks Study On Local Leaders For Troop Decision, Wash Post
    Thursday, October 29, 2009
    President Obama has asked senior officials for a province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan to determine which regions are being managed effectively by local leaders and which require international help, information that his advisers say will guide his decision on how many additional U.S. troops to send to the battle.
  • Taliban Stage Pair of Bloody Raids, Wall Street Journal
    Thursday, October 29, 2009
    Wednesday, striking a Peshawar women's market and a Kabul guesthouse used by United Nations personnel, just as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the region. Both attacks were extraordinary: Pakistan's was the country's deadliest in two years; Afghanistan's represented a shift by Taliban leaders toward targeting the U.N. because of its role in the country's election process.
  • Clinton Says Pakistan Officials May Know Al-Qaeda’s Whereabouts, Bloomberg
    Thursday, October 29, 2009
    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said some Pakistani officials probably know where al- Qaeda is holed up in the country and urged the government to hunt down the terrorist group.
  • Makeshift Bombs Spread Beyond Afghanistan, Iraq, NY Times
    Thursday, October 29, 2009
    American military officers are expressing concern over the spreading use of makeshift bombs beyond the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to other countries in the region, as well as in East Asia and South America.
  • Obama honors fallen Americans at Dover, AP
    Thursday, October 29, 2009
    Standing in the pre-dawn darkness, President Barack Obama saw the real cost of the war in Afghanistan: The Americans who return in flag-covered cases while much of the nation sleeps in peace.
  • U.S. to Protect Populous Afghan Areas, Officials Say, NY Times
    Wednesday, October 28, 2009
    President Obama’s advisers are focusing on a strategy for Afghanistan aimed at protecting about 10 top population centers, administration officials said Tuesday, describing an approach that would stop short of an all-out assault on the Taliban while still seeking to nurture long-term stability.
  • U.S. defense bill would pay Taliban to switch sides, Reuters
    Wednesday, October 28, 2009
    The defense bill President Barack Obama will sign into law on Wednesday contains a new provision that would pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said on Tuesday.
  • Push for Afghanistan troop increase continues on deadly day, LA Times
    Wednesday, October 28, 2009
    On a day when 14 U.S. servicemen and drug agents were killed in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, the largest such toll in more than four years, momentum continued to build to send more troops to the war zone.
  • Poll: Support for Afghanistan troop surge rises, MSNBC
    Wednesday, October 28, 2009
    As the Obama administration decides whether or not to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that a plurality of Americans now backs a troop increase, and a strong majority supports waiting on a decision until after the country conducts its presidential runoff election next month.
  • Iraq's security is still the key - and the omens are not good, Telegraph UK
    Wednesday, October 28, 2009
    It was when a gang held Maryam up at gunpoint, tore the crucifix from her neck, and shot dead her driver that she knew she had to leave Baghdad. She would decide she could never go back after her best friend, a doctor, gave it a try: six months later, she was dragged off the street near the hospital where she and Maryam had worked, bundled into a car, raped, and murdered.
  • Obama says he will not rush Afghanistan decision, AP
    Tuesday, October 27, 2009
    Despite Republican pressure to act quickly, President Barack Obama says he won't rush his decision about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan where 14 Americans died in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in more than four years.
  • Obama Says No Rush on Afghanistan. There Should Be., Wall Street Journal
    Tuesday, October 27, 2009
    It was the worst day for American forces in Afghanistan in four years yesterday, with 14 lives lost, all in helicopter crashes. Speaking during a visit to Naval Air Station Jacksonville on the same day, the President said: “While I will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, I also promise you this — and this is very important as we consider our next steps in Afghanistan: I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way. I won’t risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary.”
  • Op-Ed: Keeping our allies on our side in Afghanistan, LA Times
    Tuesday, October 27, 2009
    'There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies," observed Winston Churchill in 1945, "and that is fighting without them." It's a truth worth recalling as the Obama administration nears crucial decisions on Afghanistan
  • Obama to meet with Joint Chiefs over Afghanistan, sources say, CNN
    Tuesday, October 27, 2009
    U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be the topic when the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet with President Obama, sources say.
  • U.S. troops hope Afghanistan sacrifices not in vain, Wash Times
    Tuesday, October 27, 2009
    KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | The sirens blared as a Taliban rocket attack rattled troops across Kandahar Air Field for the second time last week.
  • Iraq Steps Up Baghdad Security after Massive Bombs, AP
    Monday, October 26, 2009
    Iraqi security forces blocked streets around the capital Monday and conducted intense searches at checkpoints as authorities investigated the massive security failure that allowed two truck bombs to strike what was supposed to be one of the city's safest areas and kill 155 people.
  • Bombings rock Iraq's political landscape, Wash Post
    Monday, October 26, 2009
    Twin car bombs that devastated three government buildings Sunday and killed more than 150 people illustrate a new strategy in Iraq's contest for power ahead of January elections: spectacular blows aimed at destroying faith in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to secure the country as the United States withdraws, officials and residents said.
  • U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game, Wash Post
    Monday, October 26, 2009
    The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon and are being weighed by the Obama administration as part of a broad-based review of the faltering Afghanistan war, senior military officials said.
  • 14 Americans Die in Afghan Helicopter Crashes, NY Times
    Monday, October 26, 2009
    Fourteen Americans were killed in Afghanistan on Monday in two separate incidents involving helicopters.
  • Obama and Afghanistan: GOP wants decision ASAP, USA Today
    Monday, October 26, 2009
    As President Obama huddles with his national security team on Afghanistan, Republican political pressure is growing on him to make a decision on more troops as soon as possible.
  • Karzai says wants "better" Afghan election run-off, Reuters
    Friday, October 23, 2009
    Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai said he wanted a better and cleaner presidential election run-off in November to bring stability at a time when Taliban violence is at its worst in eight years of war.
  • U.S. neglecting national security, Gingrich says, McClatchy
    Friday, October 23, 2009
    Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he fears that the United States is at risk because it doesn't have an adequate strategy for dealing with the war in Afghanistan or enough money dedicated to national security.
  • Insurgents Share a Name, but Pursue Different Goals, NY Times
    Friday, October 23, 2009
    As it devises a new Afghanistan policy, the Obama administration confronts a complex geopolitical puzzle: two embattled governments, in Afghanistan and Pakistan; numerous militias aligned with overlapping Islamist factions; and hidden in the factions’ midst, the foe that brought the United States to the region eight years ago, Al Qaeda.
  • NATO ministers back McChrystal assessment, Stars and Strips
    Friday, October 23, 2009
    There is “broad support” among NATO defense ministers for Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s overall assessment of Afghanistan and its suggestion that a full counterinsurgency strategy is the right way forward in Afghanistan, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday
  • Bombs, Wedding Blast Kill 24 in Pakistan as Attacks Escalate, Bloomberg
    Friday, October 23, 2009
    At least 24 people, including women and children traveling to a wedding, were killed in explosions in Pakistan as militants escalated near-daily attacks and the army pressed an offensive in a Taliban stronghold.
  • Analysis: Gates should not expect troop increases from allies, Stars and Stripes
    Thursday, October 22, 2009
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates sounds out NATO defense ministers this week in search of more support for the war in Afghanistan at a time when many Europeans seem unsure why they’re fighting the war in the first place.
  • Election delay may slow U.S. troop drawdown, Washington Post
    Thursday, October 22, 2009
    U.S. commanders may have to slow the pace of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq if Baghdad delays national elections scheduled for Jan. 16 or if other political instability develops, senior Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
  • Obama Goes Wobbly on Afghanistan, Wall Street Journal, Rove
    Thursday, October 22, 2009
    In an interview with CNN's John King on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said President Obama is now asking tough questions about Afghanistan "that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side, the military side and the strategic side." It was a not so subtle dig at Mr. Obama's predecessor and was meant to distract from the White House's mishandling of the war.
  • Militants deepen their foothold in Afghanistan's north, LA Times
    Thursday, October 22, 2009
    The hulks of burned-out fuel tankers on the doorstep of this provincial capital stand as scorched testament to the growing reach of the Taliban and other insurgents across Afghanistan's once-stable north.
  • Obama's civilian task in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, Christian Science Monitor
    Thursday, October 22, 2009
    Three wars in Islamic nations – Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq – now entangle President Obama in ways that would try any American commander in chief.
  • U.S. troops in Iraq have time on hands, USA Today
    Wednesday, October 21, 2009
    Pfc. Adrian Vesik heard that war could be hell. He was happy to discover when he arrived in Iraq earlier this year that his war experience also would include salsa dancing, yoga and martial-arts classes. "When I signed up for the Army, I thought I was going to be a hero — go out and do some fighting," says Vesik, 19, during a break at a Filipino-Okinawan jujitsu class. "I haven't come close to doing anything that I was trained to do. I work, maybe, four to five hours a day. I have time to try all these new things. It's not so bad."
  • Pakistan battles for Taliban leader's hometown, AP
    Wednesday, October 21, 2009
    Pakistani soldiers destroyed a house belonging to the country's Taliban chief Wednesday as they pushed into his hometown during a major offensive on an insurgent sanctuary close to the Afghan border, authorities said.
  • Is Afghanistan Impossible for Obama?, ABC News
    Wednesday, October 21, 2009
    Just over two weeks before a high-stakes runoff for the Afghan presidency, the Obama administration faces mounting pressure to decide on its Afghanistan strategy and whether or not to send more U.S. troops.
  • Op-Ed: Out of focus in Afghanistan, Chicago Tribune
    Wednesday, October 21, 2009
    One of the most pressing dilemmas facing Afghanistan today is the gap between Afghan and Western views on what constitutes an effective political system and a functional nation-state. For the majority of Afghans, life revolves around their immediate community. Authority is exercised by local leaders not necessarily affiliated with the central government. For Afghans, the existence of a country called the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is largely irrelevant.
  • Rival Says He Is Ready for Runoff With Karzai, NY Times
    Wednesday, October 21, 2009
  • US commander in Iraq warns of threat to pull out timetable, Telegraph UK
    Tuesday, October 20, 2009
    General Ray Odierno, the US commander in Iraq, has warned that a delay to the country's elections in January could derail President Barack Obama's withdrawal timetable for troops.
  • Karzai Agrees to November 7 Runoff in Afghanistan, NY Times
    Tuesday, October 20, 2009
    Under heavy international pressure, President Hamid Karzai conceded Tuesday that he fell short of a first-round victory in the nation’s disputed presidential election, and agreed to hold a runoff election with his top challenger on Nov. 7.
  • Germans thrust into "war" in perilous Afghan north, Reuters
    Tuesday, October 20, 2009
    German Lieutenant Jens U. marvels at how violent this lush corner of northern Afghanistan has become since his first deployment to the region in 2006.
  • Biden meets Iraq's PM Maliki, AP
    Tuesday, October 20, 2009
    Vice President Joe Biden, who is in charge of ensuring a tight focus on Iraq as US troops prepare to withdraw, met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday, the White House said.
  • As the Commander in Chief Deliberates, Frustration Builds Within the Ranks, NY Times
    Tuesday, October 20, 2009
    Only nine months ago, the Pentagon pronounced itself reassured by the early steps of a new commander in chief. President Obama was moving slowly on an American withdrawal from Iraq, had retained former President George W. Bush’s defense secretary and, in a gesture much noticed, had executed his first military salute with crisp precision.
  • Iraqis say they want U.S. investment, strategic support, McClatchy
    Monday, October 19, 2009
    The tourist ship "Peace" was at anchor in the Shatt al-Arab waterway but southern Iraq's business leaders were eager to explore new waters when Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, took the podium Thursday and urged them to project positive energy instead of complaining about all the things that are wrong with Iraq.
  • Pentagon cancels deployment of 3,500 U.S. troops to Iraq, CNN
    Monday, October 19, 2009
    More than 3,000 U.S. troops scheduled to deploy to Iraq won't go after all, as the military tries to draw down troop levels in the war-torn country, a Pentagon spokesman said Saturday. U.S. troops speak to an Iraqi child in Baghdad on Monday.
  • War in Afghanistan is winnable - UK general, Reuters
    Monday, October 19, 2009
    Britain and its international partners have the "strategy and resolve" to win the military campaign in Afghanistan even if it may take a number of years, the British army's new commander said on Monday.
  • New battleground in N Afghanistan? Al-Jazeera
    Monday, October 19, 2009
    At the fourth security checkpoint outside the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, a security guard cracks open almonds in a bag to check whether they are fake and possibly carrying some kind of dangerous substance
  • Military Seeks $1.3 Billion For Projects in Afghanistan, Washington Post
    Monday, October 19, 2009
    While the Obama administration weighs whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the U.S. military is spending billions of dollars on construction projects to ensure the country's infrastructure can support American and coalition personnel in 2010 and years beyond.
  • McKeon urges Obama to speed Afghanistan policy review, Santa Clarita Signal
    Thursday, October 15, 2009
    WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. House Armed Services Committee Tuesday held a hearing with outside experts, including the former Vice Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army, to gather strategy recommendations for the war in Afghanistan.
  • Afghanistan success needs diplomacy, Politico
    Thursday, October 15, 2009
    While our military and political leaders aggressively debate the level of troops needed in Afghanistan to advance our national interests, it is critical that we not miss an essential component of our long-term success in stabilizing that troubled region of the world and in enhancing our own national interests.
  • Pentagon says no plan to cut time between combat tours, Agence France-Presse
    Thursday, October 15, 2009
    WASHINGTON — The Pentagon hopes to avoid cutting back the time US soldiers spend at home between combat tours but it remains an option depending on the demands of the Afghan mission, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
  • U.S. officials look at scenarios for Afghanistan 'middle path', Los Angeles Times
    Thursday, October 15, 2009
    As the Obama administration debates whether to shift its aims in Afghanistan, officials at the Pentagon and National Security Council have begun developing "middle path" strategies that would require fewer troops than their ground commander is seeking.
  • UK sends 500 more to Afghanistan, BBC
    Wednesday, October 14, 2009
    Gordon Brown says the UK will send 500 more forces personnel to Afghanistan - but only if key conditions are met. They will be sent as long as they have the necessary equipment, if other Nato allies boost their troop numbers and more Afghan soldiers are trained.
  • Deliberating on Afghanistan, in Plain Sight, NY Times
    Wednesday, October 14, 2009
    The Afghanistan strategy sessions that President Obama is leading in the Situation Room are closed, classified and confidential. Yet many days it seems as though the White House is delivering a play-by-play account of the commander in chief’s decision making.
  • Op Ed: The road to stability in Afghanistan runs through Pakistan and India, Christian Science Monitor
    Wednesday, October 14, 2009
    The devastating terrorist attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul last week signals a new sense of urgency to the Obama administration's deliberations over Gen. Stanley McChrystal's assessment of the war in Afghanistan.
  • In Kabul, Little Hope That a Runoff Will Be Fair, NY Times
    Wednesday, October 14, 2009
    As experts pore over ballots to determine whether the fraud in this country’s presidential election was so big that a runoff vote was required, many Afghans interviewed here on Tuesday shared the same view: Why bother?
  • Big Attacks in Iraq Decrease, but Arab-Kurd Tensions Remain, WSJ
    Tuesday, October 13, 2009
    While large-scale attacks in Iraq are decreasing, tensions between Arabs and Kurds remain high and represent the top driver of instability in the country, U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Stephen Lanza said Monday.
  • Support Troops Swelling U.S. Force in Afghanistan, Wash Post
    Tuesday, October 13, 2009
    President Obama announced in March that he would be sending 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. But in an unannounced move, the White House has also authorized -- and the Pentagon is deploying -- at least 13,000 troops beyond that number, according to defense officials.
  • Karzai says would welcome more American troops, Reuters
    Tuesday, October 13, 2009
    Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday he supports U.S. General Stanley McChrystal's assessment on Afghanistan and would welcome more American troops.
  • Official: Taliban better financed than al-Qaida, AP
    Tuesday, October 13, 2009
    The Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida and rely on a wide range of criminal activities to pay for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday.
  • Pakistani jets bomb militants near Afghan border, AP
    Tuesday, October 13, 2009
    Pakistani jets bombed militant targets in the main insurgent stronghold along the Afghan border Tuesday ahead of an expected ground offensive there, while the army killed 26 insurgents elsewhere in the northwest, authorities said.
  • McCain: Troop buildup needed in Afghanistan, AP
    Monday, October 12, 2009
    Sen. John McCain says President Barack Obama will make a huge error if he does not substantially increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
  • Weapons failed US troops during Afghan firefight, AP
    Monday, October 12, 2009
    In the chaos of an early morning assault on a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M4 carbine quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didn't work either.
  • Key senator says Afghanistan mission in jeopardy, AP
    Monday, October 12, 2009
    Saying the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is in "serious jeopardy," the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says more troops are needed to combat an increasingly potent Taliban.
  • Civilian Goals Largely Unmet in Afghanistan, NY Times
    Monday, October 12, 2009
    Even as President Obama leads an intense debate over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, administration officials say the United States is falling far short of his goals to fight the country’s endemic corruption, create a functioning government and legal system and train a police force currently riddled with incompetence.
  • Pullout From Iraq Poses Daunting Challenges, NY Times
    Friday, October 09, 2009
    There is no more visible sign that America is putting the Iraq war behind it than the colossal operation to get its stuff out: 20,000 soldiers, nearly a sixth of the force here, assigned to a logistical effort aimed at dismantling some 300 bases and shipping out 1.5 million pieces of equipment, from tanks to coffee makers.
  • General's D.C. Trip Put Off as Strategy Talks Drag On, Washington Post
    Friday, October 09, 2009
    The White House has told the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan to delay a planned trip here Friday to brief President Obama and his senior advisers on his recommendation for a major troop increase. Officials had hoped to have Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and what national security adviser James L. Jones called "all the key players" speak to Obama in person by the end of this week, leading to final deliberations over a forward strategy.
  • Top Troop Request Exceeds 60,000, Wall Street Journal
    Friday, October 09, 2009
    The request for troops sent to President Barack Obama by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan includes three different options, with the largest alternative including a request for more than 60,000 troops, according to a U.S. official familiar with the document.
  • Key Democrats align with military on buildup, Wash Times
    Friday, October 09, 2009
    The Democratic chairmen of several key committees overseeing war policy, including the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, say they back the military's request for a troop buildup in Afghanistan - despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's stance that Congress will not support deploying more U.S. forces.
  • Op-Ed: The Missing Debate on Afghanistan, WSJ, Peggy Noonan
    Friday, October 09, 2009
    All in. All out. Double down. Withdraw. The language of the Afghanistan debate is stark, as seem the choices. But at least the debate has begun, forced by the blunt recent comments of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It is overdue. At the very least, less than a full airing of all the facts, realities, challenges and possibilities in that region shows insufficient respect and gratitude toward those we've put in harm's way.
  • Civilian, Military Officials at Odds Over Resources Needed for Afghan Mission, Wash Post
    Thursday, October 08, 2009
    In early March, after weeks of debate across a conference table in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the participants in President Obama's strategic review of the war in Afghanistan figured that the most contentious part of their discussions was behind them. Everyone, save Vice President Biden's national security adviser, agreed that the United States needed to mount a comprehensive counterinsurgency mission to defeat the Taliban.
  • Afghan War Debate Now Leans to Focus on Al Qaeda, NY Times
    Thursday, October 08, 2009
    President Obama’s national security team is moving to reframe its war strategy by emphasizing the campaign against Al Qaeda in Pakistan while arguing that the Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the United States, officials said Wednesday.
  • Pelosi, Reid at odds over war, Politico
    Thursday, October 08, 2009
    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from the White House Tuesday with broad, bicameral smiles — until Reid put his arm around Pelosi to announce that “everyone” would support “whatever” Afghanistan policy the president produces.
  • American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains, Telegraph UK
    Thursday, October 08, 2009
    A soldier finds solace during a Sunday service at the Airborne chapel - but morale is falling fast, say the chaplains American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban.
  • Corruption, indiscipline slow Afghan training, AP
    Thursday, October 08, 2009
    Even before the American paratroopers entered the Afghan barracks, the lack of discipline was evident: torn screens, trash collecting in the hallways, bedrooms and bushes. The checkpoints were even worse, they said, with used syringes littering the ground.
  • Senate passes Pentagon budget, war funding, Associated Press
    Wednesday, October 07, 2009
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a $626 billion Pentagon funding bill that would bring the tab for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to more than $1 trillion.
  • Smaller al-Qaida presence in Afghanistan, Associated Press
    Wednesday, October 07, 2009
    KABUL — Al-Qaida’s role in Afghanistan has faded after eight years of war.
  • Petraeus avoids taking sides in Afghan debate, Army Times
    Wednesday, October 07, 2009
    Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, steered clear of controversy during an 84-minute briefing on his command’s area of responsibility to a large audience at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual symposium.
  • Holder worried about lawmakers' Gitmo objections, Associated Press
    Wednesday, October 07, 2009
    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday he is worried that lawmakers' opposition to bringing terrorist suspects held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to U.S. prisons could hurt the effort to close the detention center.
  • Jones: Troop levels only part of Afghan policy, Associated Press
    Tuesday, October 06, 2009
    WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James Jones, says decisions on how best to stabilize Afghanistan and beat back the insurgency must extend beyond the issue of troop levels to improved governance and how best to foster economic development.
  • Gates defends COIN/conventional balance, Army Times
    Tuesday, October 06, 2009
    The U.S. Army is not overly focused on counterinsurgency operations at the cost of conventional warfare, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today at the AUSA 2009 Convention.
  • Army to add combat aviation brigade by 2011, Army Times
    Tuesday, October 06, 2009
    The Army will build a new combat aviation brigade as early as next year by pulling together equipment and people from existing active duty units.
  • U.S. Push to Expand in Pakistan Meets Resistance, New York Times
    Tuesday, October 06, 2009
    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Steps by the United States to vastly expand its aid to Pakistan, as well as the footprint of its embassy and private security contractors here, are aggravating an already volatile anti-American mood as Washington pushes for greater action by the government against the Taliban.
  • Voice of Bush’s Favored General Is Now Harder to Hear, New York Times
    Monday, October 05, 2009
    WASHINGTON — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the face of the Iraq troop surge and a favorite of former President George W. Bush, spoke up or was called upon by President Obama “several times” during the big Afghanistan strategy session in the Situation Room last week, one participant says, and will be back for two more meetings this week.
  • Pakistan has forces,equipment for Taliban assault-US, Reuters
    Monday, October 05, 2009
    WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan has mobilized enough forces and equipment to launch a long awaited ground offensive against Taliban militants in their South Waziristan stronghold near the Afghan border, U.S. defense officials said on Sunday.
  • Marines increase readiness with Afghanistan in mind, Los Angeles Times
    Monday, October 05, 2009
    Reporting from Camp Pendleton - In the power corridors of Washington, there is debate about whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. But here at Camp Pendleton, the training and deploying of Marines, with a focus on Afghanistan, continue.
  • Skelton, Levin Debate Afghanistan, CBS News
    Monday, October 05, 2009
    The Democratic Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he would not commit more troops to Afghanistan at this point, and said it is undetermined whether there would be enough votes in the Senate to commit more U.S. forces to the region.
  • U.S., eyeing Afghan war, could quicken Iraq drawdown, Reuters
    Thursday, October 01, 2009
    The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Wednesday the withdrawal of troops there could be accelerated, depending on the conditions on the ground, which could facilitate a U.S. build-up in Afghanistan.
  • Afghanistan Deteriorating, Needs Action, General Says, Bloomberg
    Thursday, October 01, 2009
    The military situation in Afghanistan is “in some ways deteriorating,” and requires quick action from the U.S. and NATO to combat insurgents, said U.S. General Stanley McChrystal.
  • Gates Doubts U.S.'s Afghan Strategy, Wall Street Journal
    Thursday, October 01, 2009
    President Barack Obama met with senior counselors for three hours Wednesday to launch his review of Afghan war strategy, amid indications that his defense secretary -- the key link between the White House and the military -- is among those undecided about the right approach.
  • W.H. readout from Afghan meeting, Politico
    Thursday, October 01, 2009
    "In today’s meeting, the President engaged his national security team in a candid assessment of the progress that has been made and the challenges we still face in Afghanistan and Pakistan since the President's strategy was announced in March. As a part of this review, the President will consult with his national security team, including his military commanders, civilian leadership, and Ambassadors in the region. He will also consult closely with our Allies and with the United States Congress.
  • General Says Iraq Troop Reductions May Quicken, NY Times
    Wednesday, September 30, 2009
    The senior American commander in Iraq said Tuesday that he could reduce American forces to 50,000 troops even before the end of next summer if the expected January elections in Iraq went smoothly.
  • 4,000 troops to leave Iraq by end of October, AP
    Wednesday, September 30, 2009
    The top general in Iraq is sending home 4,000 more U.S. troops by the end of October as the American military winds down the six-year war.
  • Top US envoy removed from Afghanistan UN job-source, Reuters
    Wednesday, September 30, 2009
    America's top diplomat at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan has been removed from his post following a row with his European boss over the country's presidential election, a U.N. official told Reuters on Wednesday.
  • McCain: Time is running short for Afghan decision, AP
    Wednesday, September 30, 2009
    Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that President Barack Obama cannot give up the fight in Afghanistan, saying the region would be destabilized if the United States and its NATO allies pulled back.
  • NATO chief defers to Obama on Afghanistan, AP
    Wednesday, September 30, 2009
    As the White House began Tuesday to debate in earnest the increasingly unpopular Afghanistan war, NATO’s secretary-general said President Barack Obama is right to delay troop decisions until a possibly revamped approach is devised.
  • ANALYSIS-It's up to Obama to decide on Afghanistan, Reuters
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009
    If President Barack Obama decides to send 30,000 to 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, he will be doing it against the advice of some advisers and leading Democrats in Congress.
  • NATO chief says more troops needed in Afghanistan, LA Times
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009
    Stepping into an intensifying debate in Washington, the new head of NATO said Monday that more allied troops are needed in Afghanistan to help train the country's security forces.
  • Services prepare for Afghanistan plus-up, Army Times
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009
    They’re the questions of the moment within the ranks: How many more troops are headed to Afghanistan? And who, exactly, will go? Absent details of the request for additional forces that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was to send to the Pentagon late last week, no one yet knows.
  • Holy Month Ends, and Violence Rises Again in Iraq, NY Times
    Tuesday, September 29, 2009
    Eighteen people were killed and at least 55 others were wounded in bombings across Iraq on Monday as the country’s level of violence picked up again after a relative lull during the holy month of Ramadan.
  • Obama can't downsize to success in Afghanistan, LA Times
    Monday, September 28, 2009
    During last year's campaign, Barack Obama stressed that while he wanted to withdraw from Iraq, he was no pacifist. "As president," he said on July 15, 2008, "I will make the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority that it should be. This is a war that we have to win."
  • U.S. Military Leaders Discuss Troop Needs for Afghanistan, Wash Post
    Monday, September 28, 2009
    Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, held an unannounced meeting with senior U.S. military leaders on Friday to lay out his needs for additional troops for the war, as the Obama administration engages in intense deliberations over the strategy there, according to a defense official.
  • US forces move into central Afghan city, AP
    Monday, September 28, 2009
    The soldiers hesitated as the mullah preached, unsure if they would be welcome at the celebration of one of Islam's highest holidays.
  • Gates urges no timeline for leaving Afghanistan, AP
    Monday, September 28, 2009
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it’s a mistake to set a deadline to end American military action, as some liberals have sought, and that a defeat would be disastrous for the U.S.
  • Drum beat grows louder for McChrystal testimony, Politico
    Monday, September 28, 2009
    Republicans want to make the idea of a high stakes congressional hearing with Gen. Stanley McChrystal look inevitable.
  • Dubious Afghan Vote Drove U.S. to Revisit Strategy, WSJ
    Thursday, September 24, 2009
    The public debate in Washington over the White House's unexpected reappraisal of its Afghan strategy has focused on troop numbers and military tactics. But the Obama administration's focus is on another issue: Is Afghan President Hamid Karzai a reliable ally?
  • Taliban Widen Afghan Attacks From Base in Pakistan, NY Times
    Thursday, September 24, 2009
    Senior Taliban leaders, showing a surprising level of sophistication and organization, are using their sanctuary in Pakistan to stoke a widening campaign of violence in northern and western Afghanistan, senior American military and intelligence officials say.
  • Troop deaths in Afghanistan a concern in Congress, AP
    Thursday, September 24, 2009
    Concern is rising in Congress over a sharp increase in U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan when military officials acknowledge that American service members are facing greater risks under a new strategy that emphasizes protecting Afghan civilians.
  • Rough year ahead in Afghanistan, says CEFCOM Commander, Canada Press
    Thursday, September 24, 2009
    Troops in Afghanistan will face a rough year ahead according to a blunt assessment by the commander of Canadian soldiers stationed overseas.
  • New Japan PM offers Obama help on Afghanistan, AFP
    Thursday, September 24, 2009
    Japan's new left-leaning Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday told President Barack Obama he would look for ways to support Afghanistan, holding out an olive branch in their first meeting.
  • Less Peril for Civilians, but More for Troops, Wash Post
    Wednesday, September 23, 2009
    Concern is rising in Congress and among military families over a sharp increase in U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan at a time when senior military officials acknowledge that American service members are facing greater risks under a new strategy that emphasizes protecting Afghan civilians.
  • Petraeus troubled by rising Afghan violence, Military Times
    Wednesday, September 23, 2009
    Gen. David Petraeus told infantrymen here Tuesday that the rising violence in Afghanistan is “very concerning,” echoing the top U.S. and NATO commander’s sobering assessment of the war-torn country.
  • McCain: More troops needed in Afghanistan, AP
    Wednesday, September 23, 2009
    Sen. John McCain says more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan, insisting that the longer it takes to send them, "the more Americans will be put at risk."
  • US Amb. Rice says Afghanistan situation is complex, AP
    Wednesday, September 23, 2009
    U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice says the Obama administration's fresh assessment of American policy in Afghanistan is appropriate and necessary in light of an evolving and uncertain political landscape there.
  • In Afghanistan Assessment, a Catalyst for Obama, NY Times
    Tuesday, September 22, 2009
  • Afghanistan Election Review Will Be Based On Sample, LA Times
    Tuesday, September 22, 2009
    After weeks of wrangling, two agencies overseeing Afghanistan's fraud-tainted election agreed Monday to rely on statistical sampling rather than an in-depth investigation of alleged voting irregularities.
  • A Pragmatist, Gates Reshapes Policy He Backed, NY Times
    Tuesday, September 22, 2009
    On his tenth day on the job, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates signed off on an ambitious if politically charged plan to build a new missile shield in Europe. Just two weeks later, he supported an even more wrenching decision to send additional American troops to Iraq, into a war that was not going well.
  • Analysis: Obama faces key choice on Afghan war, AP
    Tuesday, September 22, 2009
    Escalate or scale back. The blunt conclusion laid out by the top American commander in Afghanistan — “The status quo will lead to failure” — poses a stark and urgent choice for President Barack Obama: intensify the foundering conflict with more troops, or narrow the mission to targeting terrorists instead of protecting Afghans.
  • Officials Ponder Adding Drones, Not Troops, AP
    Tuesday, September 22, 2009
    President Barack Obama may change course again as the war worsens in Afghanistan, steering away from the comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy he laid out this spring and toward a narrower focus on counterterror operations aimed at al-Qaida.
  • Biden: US Will Follow Iraq Wishes on Troop Pullout, AP
    Friday, September 18, 2009
    Vice President Joe Biden pledged Thursday to follow Iraq's wishes should Baghdad decide to speed up the timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
  • Republicans seek Afghan war information, AP
    Friday, September 18, 2009
    Republican lawmakers turned up the pressure Thursday for more details on the war in Afghanistan, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates said “everybody should take a deep breath” and let the administration devise strategy at its own pace.
  • Intel director: U.S. now safer from al-Qaida, AP
    Friday, September 18, 2009
    The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would not have happened had U.S. intelligence agencies been organized then the way they are now, the top U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday.
  • Biden says January election critical to Iraq's future, AFP
    Thursday, September 17, 2009
    US Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday a parliamentary election scheduled for January is "critical to Iraq's future" but acknowledged that position-taking ahead of the vote was hampering key legislation.
  • Obama says he won't rush Afghanistan troop decision, LA Times
    Thursday, September 17, 2009
    On a day when his administration outlined ambitious goals for Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Obama also moved Wednesday to call a timeout in the escalating national debate over a possible troop increase in Afghanistan.
  • Op-Ed: Afghanistan’s Other Front, NYT
    Thursday, September 17, 2009
    ALLEGATIONS of ballot-stuffing in the presidential election in Afghanistan last month are now so widespread that a recount is necessary, and perhaps even a runoff. Yet this electoral chicanery pales in comparison to the systemic, day-to-day corruption within the administration of President Hamid Karzai, who has claimed victory in the election. Without a concerted campaign to fight this pervasive venality, all our efforts there, including the sending of additional troops, will be in vain.
  • OpEd: Time to dig in, not bail out, USA Today
    Thursday, September 17, 2009
    Forget left or right. Forget politics. Think ‘war on terror.’ Bob and Cal agree that now is not the time to abandon the war in Afghanistan.
  • Karzai Defends Afghan Vote, Blast Hits Italian Troops, Reuters
    Thursday, September 17, 2009
    President Hamid Karzai defended Afghanistan's disputed presidential election on Thursday after early results showed him the winner, while a suicide bomb attack on Italian troops tested the resolve of a major NATO ally
  • Mullen: More Troops 'Probably' Needed, Wash Post
    Wednesday, September 16, 2009
    The nation's top military officer told Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. war in Afghanistan "probably needs more forces" and sought to reassure lawmakers skeptical of sending additional troops that commanders were devising new tactics that would lead to victory over a resurgent Taliban.
  • Diplomat in Kabul Leaves in Dispute, Wash Post
    Wednesday, September 16, 2009
    KABUL, Sept. 15 -- The deputy head of the U.N. mission here has abruptly left the country after a dispute with the mission's Norwegian chief over whether to publicly denounce Afghanistan's election commission for not discounting clearly fraudulent votes cast in favor of President Hamid Karzai's reelection
  • Bin Laden calls U.S.-NATO fight in Afghanistan 'hopeless', Wash Times
    Wednesday, September 16, 2009
    Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on Monday taunted the United States amid rising casualties in Afghanistan, calling the U.S.-NATO military campaign "hopeless" and warning of a "war of extermination against you on all possible fronts."
  • Many Allies of U.S. Share Pain of Afghan War’s Toll, NY Times
    Wednesday, September 16, 2009
    For most Germans, it was a rare — even shocking — scene. There, on television, were coffins holding the bodies of three soldiers, all in their early 20s, all killed in Afghanistan, all draped with the national flag.
  • U.S. VP Biden back in Iraq to keep up pressure, Reuters
    Tuesday, September 15, 2009
    U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on an unannounced visit on Tuesday to keep up U.S. pressure on Iraq's leaders to reach political compromises on thorny issues as U.S. combat troops prepare to go home.
  • Recount of Some Votes Is Ordered in Afghanistan, NYT
    Tuesday, September 15, 2009
    A United Nations-backed commission serving as the ultimate arbiter of Afghanistan’s presidential election has ordered a recount of votes from around 10 percent of the country’s polling stations because of suspected fraud, the head of the panel said on Tuesday.
  • UN deputy in Afghanistan leaves after vote row, AFP
    Tuesday, September 15, 2009
    The senior American diplomat in the UN mission to Afghanistan has left the country after an argument with his European boss over how to deal with election fraud, officials said Tuesday.
  • Obama Rejects Afghanistan-Vietnam Comparison, NYT
    Tuesday, September 15, 2009
    President Obama rejected comparisons on Monday between the war in Afghanistan and the conflict in Vietnam a generation ago, but he expressed concern about “the dangers of overreach” and pledged a full debate before making further decisions on strategy.
  • Afghan war likely needs more US troops-Mullen, Reuters
    Tuesday, September 15, 2009
    The United States will probably need to deploy more troops to Afghanistan despite almost doubling the size of its force there this year, the top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday.
  • New Leaders, Old Woes in Iraq Region, NY Times
    Monday, September 14, 2009
    It has been more than seven months since a mainly tribal coalition came to power in Anbar Province, but already its leaders are being accused by many of doing little for most citizens while seeking to enrich themselves through sweetheart business deals.
  • Bin Laden Calls Obama 'Powerless' In Afghan War, AP
    Monday, September 14, 2009
    Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden described President Barack Obama as "powerless" to stop the war in Afghanistan and threatened to step up guerrilla warfare there in a new audiotape released to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
  • Afghanistan Looking for Way Forward After Election, AP
    Monday, September 14, 2009
    Afghanistan's electoral officials searched for a way Monday to salvage an election marred by reports of ballot stuffing and phantom voters, mulling how much of the vote to throw out because of fraud.
  • Op-Ed: Only Decisive Force Can Prevail in Afghanistan, Wall Street Journal
    Monday, September 14, 2009
    By Lindsey Graham, Joseph I. Lieberman and John McCain Growing numbers of Americans are starting to doubt whether we should have troops in Afghanistan and whether the war there is even winnable.
  • A Somber Warning on Afghanistan, NY Times
    Monday, September 14, 2009
    Western powers now in Afghanistan run the risk of suffering the fate of the Soviet Union there if they cannot halt the growing insurgency and an Afghan perception that they are foreign invaders, according to Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former U.S. national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter.
  • US Will Stick to Plan for Iraq Pullout-Hill, Reuters
    Friday, September 11, 2009
    The United States expects to keep to its plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within a year despite a spate of bomb attacks, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Thursday.
  • Op-Ed: Is Afghanistan still worth it?, LA Times
    Friday, September 11, 2009
    Eight years ago today, Al Qaeda killed more than 3,000 people in coordinated attacks on U.S. soil that were conceived in Afghanistan, where leaders of the terrorist organization had been given refuge by the Taliban government. A month later, the U.S. government struck back, launching what has become America's longest war since Vietnam.
  • Senate panel OKs $128 billion for wars, AP
    Friday, September 11, 2009
    With hardly any debate, a powerful Senate committee Thursday approved President Barack Obama's $128 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the budget year beginning in October.
  • Obama Facing Doubts Within His Own Party on Afghanistan, NY Times
    Friday, September 11, 2009
    The leading Senate Democrat on military matters said Thursday that he was against sending more American combat troops to Afghanistan until the United States speeded up the training and equipping of more Afghan security forces.
  • This 9-11, Obama Has the Bullhorn On Terrorism, AP
    Friday, September 11, 2009
    On Sept. 11, 2001, Barack Obama was driving to a state legislative hearing in Chicago when he heard the first sketchy reports of a plane hitting the World Trade Center on his car radio. The 40-year-old state senator spent the afternoon in his law office watching "nightmare images" of destruction and grief unfold on TV.
  • The Reporter’s Account: 4 Days With the Taliban, NY Times
    Thursday, September 10, 2009
    Stephen Farrell, a reporter for The New York Times, and Sultan M. Munadi, an Afghan journalist working with him, were kidnapped by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Saturday. In a British raid to free them early Wednesday, Mr. Munadi was killed, as was a British soldier who has not been identified. This is Mr. Farrell’s account of the four-day ordeal.
  • Afghans Angry Over Death of Interpreter In Raid That Freed N.Y. Times Reporter, Washington Post
    Thursday, September 10, 2009
    The dramatic rescue of New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell, a British-born journalist who was plucked unharmed from a Taliban hideout in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday by British special forces, was greeted with relief by his colleagues and co-workers in Afghanistan.
  • Wounded Troops Recover as US War Coverage Wanes, AP
    Thursday, September 10, 2009
    A year after Capt. Sam Brown was set ablaze when a bomb blew up his Humvee in Afghanistan, the 25-year-old West Point graduate endures a steady schedule of painful surgery and stretching to break up knotty burn scars.
  • A Primer on Afghanistan's Political Situation, and the U.S. Role, LA Times
    Thursday, September 10, 2009
    President Obama is weighing the next step to take in Afghanistan, a policy problem made more daunting by charges of fraud in the recent presidential election. Here is primer to understanding the confusing political situation in Afghanistan and the U.S. role.
  • Taliban Presence Seen Across Almost All Afghanistan, Reuters
    Thursday, September 10, 2009
    The Taliban have a significant presence in almost every corner of Afghanistan, data from a policy think tank showed on Thursday, as the country lurches into political uncertainty after a disputed presidential election.
  • Airstrikes in Afghanistan Drop By Almost Half, USA Today
    Wednesday, September 09, 2009
    Airstrikes by coalition forces in Afghanistan have dropped dramatically in the three months Gen. Stanley McChrystal has led the war effort there, reflecting his new emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties and protecting the population.
  • U.S. Learned Its Lesson, Won't Abandon Afghanistan, Gates Says, Washington Post
    Wednesday, September 09, 2009
    Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in an interview broadcast this week that the United States would not repeat the mistake of abandoning Afghanistan, vowing that "both Afghanistan and Pakistan can count on us for the long term."
  • Lawmakers More Concerned About Afghan Buildup, AP
    Wednesday, September 09, 2009
    House and Senate lawmakers are expressing increasing skepticism over the prospect of ordering thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, saying they want to see strong evidence that such an increase would dislodge insurgents from safe havens there and in neighboring Pakistan.
  • Marred Afghan Vote Leaves U.S. in a Delicate Spot, NY Times
    Wednesday, September 09, 2009
    On Monday, as the vote-counting in Afghanistan was nearing an end, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was briefed by the American ambassador in Kabul, Karl W. Eikenberry. The same day, the ambassador delivered a blunt message to the front-runner, President Hamid Karzai: “Don’t declare victory.”
  • U.S.-German Rift Emerges Over Afghan Airstrike, AP
    Tuesday, September 08, 2009
    An airstrike by U.S. fighter jets that appears to have killed Afghan civilians could turn into a major dispute for NATO allies Germany and the United States, as tensions began rising between them Sunday over Germany’s role in ordering the attack.
  • Recounts ordered in Afghan vote, BBC News
    Tuesday, September 08, 2009
    Afghanistan's Election Complaints Commission has ordered a number of recounts and audits of votes from last month's presidential election. The UN-backed body warned that it had found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud", the AP news agency reported.
  • Op-Ed: Will Obama Fight For Afghanistan? Anne Applebaum, Washington Post
    Tuesday, September 08, 2009
    Perhaps this summer's record bloodshed did it, or perhaps it was the disappointment of the election, with its low turnout, accompanying violence and allegations of fraud. Whatever the reason, the Afghan war is suddenly at the center of political debate in several Western countries. At stake are not merely tactics and strategy but a far more fundamental question: Should we still be in Afghanistan at all?
  • For Obama, A Pivotal Moment in Afghanistan, Washington Post
    Tuesday, September 08, 2009
    President Obama must decide in the coming weeks whether a greater investment of troops and resources in Afghanistan is worth the political risk if Americans do not soon perceive better results on the ground.
  • Crux of Afghan Debate: Will More Troops Curb Terror? NY Times
    Tuesday, September 08, 2009
    Does the United States need a large and growing ground force in Afghanistan to prevent another major terrorist attack on American soil?
  • Gates, Mullen Defend Afghan Strategy, Politico
    Friday, September 04, 2009
    The war in Afghanistan is not “slipping through the administration’s fingers,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Thursday.
  • Advisers to Obama Divided on Size of Afghan Force, New York Times
    Friday, September 04, 2009
    The military’s anticipated request for more troops to combat the insurgency in Afghanistan has divided senior advisers to President Obama as they try to determine the proper size and mission of the American effort there, officials said Thursday.
  • Gates May Be Open to Troop Increase, Washington Post
    Friday, September 04, 2009
    Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates indicated Thursday that he is open to increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, voicing a shift in his position as the administration ponders a military assessment expected to lead to a formal request for additional forces.
  • Brown Says U.K. Troops Will Stay in Afghanistan, AP
    Friday, September 04, 2009
    Britain’s military will stay in Afghanistan until it can look after its own security, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday, dismissing a call from one of his government’s defense aides to begin planning a pullout from the country.
  • Robert Gates protests AP decision as 'appalling', Politico
    Friday, September 04, 2009
    Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”
  • How to Win in Afghanistan, Wall Street Journal, Max Boot
    Thursday, September 03, 2009
    Given declining poll numbers and rising casualty figures, it is no surprise that the chattering classes are starting to bail out on a war in Afghanistan that was launched with their enthusiastic support. From Sen. Russ Feingold on the left to columnist George Will on the right, these born-again doves seem to be chastened by the fact that the Taliban won’t simply stop fighting. Rather than rise to the challenge, they propose that we stick to what Mr. Will says “can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.”
  • Military Helps Eliminate Opium in Afghanistan, AP
    Thursday, September 03, 2009
    Afghanistan’s opium production fell 10 percent last year and prices are at their lowest in a decade, meaning “the bottom is starting to fall out” of the world’s largest opium market, the U.N. said Wednesday.
  • Afghan Vote Results Likely to Be Delayed, Washington Post
    Thursday, September 03, 2009
    Afghanistan's volatile presidential election process moved closer to violent confrontation Wednesday, even as officials said releasing the final results from the Aug. 20 polls would be further delayed because of slow vote counting and an even slower effort to investigate hundreds of fraud complaints.
  • G.O.P. Support May Be Vital to Obama on Afghan War, New York Times
    Thursday, September 03, 2009
    As President Obama prepares to decide whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the political climate appears increasingly challenging for him, leaving him in the awkward position of relying on the Republican Party, and not his own, for support.
  • Tribal Leaders Say Karzai’s Team Forged 23,900 Votes, New York Times
    Wednesday, September 02, 2009
    Just a week before this country’s presidential election, the leaders of a southern Afghan tribe called Bariz gathered to make a bold decision: they would abandon the incumbent and local favorite, Hamid Karzai, and endorse his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.
  • Taliban Surprising U.S. Forces With Improved Tactics, Washington Post
    Wednesday, September 02, 2009
    The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy's resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.
  • Warlord's Defection Shows Afghan Risk, Wall Street Journal
    Wednesday, September 02, 2009
    Ghulam Yahya, a former mayor of this ancient city along the Silk Road, battled the Taliban for years and worked hand in hand with Western officials to rebuild the country's industrial hub.
  • Afghanistan - The McChrystal Assessment, The Atlantic
    Wednesday, September 02, 2009
  • What's Right With Afghanistan, Wall Street Journal
    Wednesday, September 02, 2009
    The national mood on the Afghanistan war has soured fast, and it's not hard to see why. American combat deaths have exceeded 100 for the summer, the recent Afghan election was tainted by accusations of intimidation and fraud, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen says the security environment there is "deteriorating."
  • Groundwork Is Laid for New Troops in Afghanistan, NY Times
    Tuesday, September 01, 2009
    A new report by the top commander in Afghanistan detailing the deteriorating situation there confronts President Obama with the politically perilous decision of whether to deepen American involvement in the eight-year-old war amid shrinking public support at home.
  • General: Afghan Situation 'Serious', Washington Post
    Tuesday, September 01, 2009
    The top U.S. commander for Afghanistan called the situation there "serious" but salvageable, in a sobering assessment issued Monday that is expected to pave the way for a request for more American troops, funds for Afghan forces and other resources. White House and Pentagon officials, while welcoming the assessment, cautioned that there is no guarantee such requests would be met.
  • White House Fears Liberal War Pressure, Politico
    Tuesday, September 01, 2009
    White House officials are increasingly worried liberal, anti-war Democrats will demand a premature end to the Afghanistan war before President Barack Obama can show signs of progress in the eight-year conflict, according to senior administration sources.
  • New Month Brings New Focus on Afghanistan, Washington Post
    Tuesday, September 01, 2009
    The calendar this morning brings a new month, and a renewed focus on the thorny problem of Afghanistan after August was concerned mostly with controversies of the domestic variety.
  • IRAQ: Baghdad-Damascus feud heats up again after bombings, LA Times
    Tuesday, September 01, 2009
    Iraq and Syria continued to spar verbally after the Aug. 19 bombings at Baghdad’s finance and foreign ministries that killed about 100 people and prompted accusations from the Iraqi government that Damascus was harboring the masterminds of the attacks.
  • American Commander: US on the Road out of Iraq, AP
    Monday, August 31, 2009
    The U.S. military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history - shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas along with a force the size of a small city.
  • Report: Change strategy for fighting Taliban, AP
    Monday, August 31, 2009
    The top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Monday the situation in the country is “serious” and a new strategy is needed to defeat the Taliban.
  • Marines: Afghanistan enemy deadly and cowardly, AP
    Monday, August 31, 2009
    After three tours in Iraq, U.S. Marine Sgt. Andre Leon was used to brutal shootouts with enemy fighters and expected more of the same in Afghanistan.
  • U.S. fears clock ticking on Afghanistan, LA Times
    Monday, August 31, 2009
    The Obama administration is racing to demonstrate visible headway in the faltering war in Afghanistan, convinced it has only until next summer to slow a hemorrhage in U.S. support and win more time for the military and diplomatic strategy it hopes can rescue the 8-year-old effort.
  • Commander delivers Afghan review, no word on troops, Reuters
    Monday, August 31, 2009
    The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is delivering his long-awaited review of strategy on Monday, a spokeswoman said, but there was no hint in public as to whether he would ask for more troops
  • US General: In A Year, Only 50,000 Troops In Iraq, AP
    Friday, August 28, 2009
    The U.S. Army chief of staff says he expects the number of American troops in Iraq to go down to around 50,000 by this time next year.
  • Iraq Violence Puts Off Plan for Shiite Seminary To Train Westerners, AP
    Friday, August 28, 2009
    It took years for a family of prominent American Shiite scholars to build a specialized seminary that would train Americans and Europeans to lead mosques in the West.
  • UN Plans Afghanistan Summit in Kabul, Guardian UK
    Friday, August 28, 2009
    Diplomats want to shore up whatever government is formed by holding first ever top-level meeting in capital The United Nations is planning to host an international summit on the future of Afghanistan for the first time in Kabul – an attempt to bestow credibility on the new government that emerges from the country's bitterly contested presidential election.
  • Accusations Of Vote Fraud Multiply in Afghanistan, Washington Post
    Friday, August 28, 2009
    One week after Afghanistan's presidential election, with the winner still undeclared, increasing accusations of fraud and voter coercion threaten to undermine the validity of the results, deepen dangerous regional divisions and hamper the Obama administration's goals in this volatile country.
  • US death in Afghanistan ties August for deadliest month of 8-year war with 44 US troops lost, AP
    Thursday, August 27, 2009
    A U.S. service member died Thursday in a militant attack involving a roadside bomb and gunfire, a death that pushed August into a tie with July as the deadliest months of the eight-year war.
  • Largest Shiite Party In Iraq Loses Leader, Washington Post
    Thursday, August 27, 2009
    Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of Iraq's largest Shiite political party, died Wednesday, creating a leadership vacuum that could weaken the bloc ahead of the January parliamentary election.
  • Karzai's Lead Widens in Afghan Race, AP
    Thursday, August 27, 2009
    President Hamid Karzai extended his lead over his top challenger in Afghanistan's presidential election, new results showed Wednesday, but he remains short of the 50 percent threshold that would allow him to avoid a two-man runoff.
  • Afghanistan's Economy Blooms, WSJ
    Thursday, August 27, 2009
    Except for the clothes, Amiri Park could be any park in the United States: kids jostling for positions on swings and seesaws or chasing each other over the grass and gravel paths. One boy makes long arcs with his inline skates; teenage girls parade new clothes. Families picnic on the grass, and others dine al fresco at a Turkish restaurant. The air is fresh and cool, while in the city, it's dusty and hot.
  • Accused of Drug Ties, Afghan Official Worries U.S.
    Thursday, August 27, 2009
    It was a heated debate during the Bush administration: What to do about evidence that Afghanistan’s powerful defense minister was involved in drug trafficking? Officials from the time say they needed him to help run the troubled country. So the answer, in the end: look the other way.
  • Mullen, Petraeus seek more Afghanistan support, Gannett News Service
    Wednesday, August 26, 2009
    Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, remembers exactly where he was on Sept. 11, 2001 — as he believes most Americans do.
  • On Afghanistan, Political Test for Obama, Washington Post
    Wednesday, August 26, 2009
    President Obama is caught between two important constituencies as he recalibrates his policy in Afghanistan -- the generals who want more troops, and the base of his own party, whose tolerance for a worsening conflict is quickly evaporating.
  • Petraeus: More Fighting Ahead in Afghanistan, AP
    Wednesday, August 26, 2009
    The commander of the U.S. Central Command warned Tuesday that growing numbers of American soldiers sent to Afghanistan will encounter tough fighting, but said improving civilians’ lives is as important to winning the war as defeating militants.
  • Turkey should 'expand role in Afghanistan', AFP
    Wednesday, August 26, 2009
    Turkey should expand the mandate of its troops in Afghanistan and play a bigger part in the fight against terrorism, NATO's secretary general said in remarks published Wednesday in the Turkish press.
  • Behind the Carnage in Baghdad, David Ignatius, Washington Post
    Tuesday, August 25, 2009
    As security deteriorates in Baghdad, there's a new cause for worry: The head of the U.S.-trained Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) has quit in a long-running quarrel with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- depriving that country of a key leader in the fight against sectarian terrorism.
  • Taking the Afghan Fight to the Farm, NY Times
    Tuesday, August 25, 2009
    A mission to defeat the Taliban was under way this month amid the funnel cakes, corn dogs and a giant purple robot strolling the midway at the state fair in Sedalia, Missouri.
  • Iraq's Al-Qaida Claims Baghdad Government Bombings, AP
    Tuesday, August 25, 2009
    An al-Qaida front group claimed responsibility Tuesday for last week's suicide truck bombings that tore through government ministries in Baghdad, while Iraq recalled its ambassador from Syria and demanded that Damascus hand over two suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists it has linked to the attacks.
  • With Maliki's Party Out, Iraq's Shiite Coalition Splits, McClatchy Newspapers
    Tuesday, August 25, 2009
    The Shiite Muslim political alliance that's led Iraq since 2005 appears to be breaking apart, with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's Dawa Party preparing to run for re-election independently of the other parties that had lifted him to power.
  • Equipment Drawdown May Cost Tens of Billions, Military Times
    Tuesday, August 25, 2009
    As U.S. troops near what is supposed to be the final year of combat operations in Iraq, the military’s top logisticians have quietly been working on the “monumental” task of removing mountains of war-fighting equipment from that theater.
  • Trouble in Former Qaeda Heartland Bodes Ill For Iraq, Reuters
    Monday, August 24, 2009
    Renewed violence in the former heartland of Iraq's al Qaeda-inspired Sunni Muslim insurgency bodes ill for efforts to prevent a resurgence of a sectarian conflict that has killed tens of thousands.
  • Op-Ed: Iraq’s Troubling Turn, USA Today
    Monday, August 24, 2009
    Last week, it was as if Iraq was in a time warp. Attacks on the heart of government in Baghdad felt like the bad old days before a U.S. surge helped establish relative calm. Terrorists destroyed the foreign ministry and damaged targets from the education ministry to parts of the Green Zone. They killed dozens and injured hundreds. It was no isolated day of horror. It was part of a dramatic uptick in violence since U.S. troops began withdrawing from cities in June.
  • U.S. Military Says Its Force in Afghanistan Is Insufficient, New York Times
    Monday, August 24, 2009
    American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.
  • Afghans Move toward Reconciliation with Taliban, AP
    Monday, August 24, 2009
    Once the national elections are behind them, local Afghan leaders will step up efforts to reconcile with midlevel Taliban in the extremists' southern Helmand province stronghold, a key provincial official said Monday.
  • Pakistan Taliban Commander Vows Afghan Fight, AP
    Monday, August 24, 2009
    Pakistani Taliban fighters are committed to helping the fight in Afghanistan and consider Barack Obama their "No. 1 enemy," a top commander said amid uncertainty about whether a new leader has been appointed to head the movement.
  • General: More Troops in Afghanistan Means Less Risk, CBS News
    Friday, August 21, 2009
    The White House has hailed today's vote in Afghanistan as an overall success. U.S. officials in Afghanistan report 95 percent of polling stations opened across the country -- including one hundred percent of the polling centers in Helmand and Kandahar, despite a quadrupling of attacks in that region in recent days.
  • Shiites and Sunnis Accuse Each Other of Iraq Bombings, AFP
    Friday, August 21, 2009
    Powerful Shiite politicians and Iraq's leading Sunni insurgency group on Friday accused each other of being responsible for massive truck bombings in Baghdad that killed 95 people two days ago.
  • Afghans Turn to the Twitterverse for Election, AP
    Friday, August 21, 2009
    Afghans turned to the Twitterverse to share news of Taliban intimidation at the polls and voter turnout in the presidential election, even as the country was just trying to keep electricity running and attacks at bay.
  • 11 Iraqi Commanders Detained After Blasts, Washington Post
    Friday, August 21, 2009
    The Iraqi government on Thursday announced the detention of 11 army and police commanders, accusing them of negligence in Wednesday's massive bombings targeting government buildings in Baghdad.
  • Karzai, Abdullah Teams Both Expect Election Win, Washington Post
    Friday, August 21, 2009
    President Hamid Karzai and his top election rival both claimed Friday that they were comfortably ahead in Thursday's nationwide polling and expected to win the presidency, while election officials admonished all candidates against making such claims until official results are announced.
  • Editorial: Afghanistan Votes, NY Times
    Friday, August 21, 2009
    Millions of Afghans, determined to shape their own future, defied Taliban threats and voted Thursday in the country’s second-ever presidential elections. That courage deserves to be rewarded with far better governance than Afghans have experienced in the four years since the last presidential vote.
  • Iraqi Fear And Anger That Bombings Were Not Prevented, Reuters
    Thursday, August 20, 2009
    Iraqis seethed at security forces on Thursday after 95 people were killed in the bloodiest day of attacks in Iraq this year, which many blamed on political infighting as parliamentary elections near.
  • Afghan Voting Proceeds Despite Taliban Threats, Washington Post
    Thursday, August 20, 2009
    Afghanistan's historic presidential election proceeded with unexpected smoothness and order Thursday despite threats by the radical Islamist Taliban movement to disrupt it. There were reports of scattered violence, and turnout appeared to be relatively low in the capital and in southern provinces with a strong Taliban presence, but Afghan and foreign officials said a feared disaster had been averted.
  • Turnout Seen as Uneven in Afghanistan as Polls Close , NY Times
    Thursday, August 20, 2009
    Defying Taliban warnings and a flurry of rocket attacks apparently aimed at polling stations, Afghans voted Thursday in an election that has become a critical benchmark of the nation’s progress for both the Afghan government and the Obama administration.
  • As Afghans vote, blast kills service member, AP
    Thursday, August 20, 2009
    Taliban threats appeared to dampen voter turnout in the militant south Thursday as Afghans chose the next president for their deeply troubled country. Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide and bomb attacks that closed some polling sites.
  • U.S. General in Pakistan for Talks on Equipment, Reuters
    Wednesday, August 19, 2009