Afghanistan Archives - Page 28 of 74 - Foreign Policy In Focus

The AfPak Train Wreck

by John Feffer, Conn Hallinan | Dec 7, 2009

When President Barack Obama laid out his plan for winning the war in Afghanistan, behind him stood an army of ghosts: Greeks, Mongols, Buddhists, British, and Russians, all whom had almost the same illusions as the current resident of the Oval Office about Central Asia. The first four armies are dust. But there are Russian survivors of the 1979-89 war that ended up killing 15,000 Soviets and hundreds of thousands of Afghans as well as virtually wrecking Moscow’s economy.

Annotate This! President Obama’s Afghanistan Escalation Speech

by Phyllis Bennis, Erik Leaver | Dec 2, 2009

There was one way in which President Obama’s escalation speech brought significant relief to the 59% of people in this country, as well as the overwhelming majorities of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and elsewhere who oppose the U.S. war in Afghanistan: It was a pretty lousy speech. That is, it had none of the power, the lyricism, the passion for history, the capacity to engage and to persuade virtually every listener, even those who may ultimately disagree, that have characterized the president’s earlier addresses.

Nation-Building in Afghanistan

by John Feffer, Adil E. Shamoo | Nov 30, 2009

The United States has spent nearly a trillion dollars over the past seven years, fighting two wars in vastly different places. A small portion of this effort has been dedicated to what has commonly been called nation-building. In fact, our mission has been a mixture of both state-building, which further develops the institutions of government, and nation-building, which constructs roads, schools and other projects. This approach is not entirely new, but these initiatives have become an important and accepted paradigm for the conduct of war in this century.

Legitimacy in Afghanistan

by Robert Naiman, Emily Schwartz Greco | Nov 12, 2009

A headline for a recent McClatchy news story suggests that the decision of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah not to contest the second round of the Afghan presidential election will have a major impact on whether the Afghan government is perceived as legitimate: “Challenger’s pullout leaves Afghan government of dubious legitimacy.”

Why the Afghan Surge Will Fail

by John Feffer, Conn Hallinan | Nov 12, 2009

Before the Obama administration buys into General Stanley McChrystal’s escalation strategy, it might spend some time examining the August 12 battle of Dananeh, a scruffy little town of 2,000 perched at the entrance to the Naw Zad Valley in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province.

Underlying Causes of Insecurity in Afghanistan

by Gabriela Campos, Erik Leaver | Nov 6, 2009

As Iraq slowly moves into stability and democracy, much attention has turned to Afghanistan, and on Obama’s yet-to-be-made decision on troops. Public opinion has also slowly turned sour, in part to rising U.S. casualties. October 2009 was the deadliest month for the United States in Afghanistan since the invasion in 2001. But what does the war look like from the eyes of Afghans? A recent poll by the Asia Foundation looked at Afghan public opinion on reconstruction, security, U.S. presence, governance, and the role of women in society. FPIF spoke with Mariam Nawabi, an attorney, activist, and founding member of the Afghanistan Advocacy Group, to better understand Afghan public opinion on the conflict, and how the country can move towards a stable democracy. Nawabi also previously worked at the Embassy of Afghanistan as Commercial and Trade Counsel, and has also traveled to Afghanistan.

UN Report Misleading on Afghanistan

by Erik Leaver, Julien Mercille | Nov 5, 2009

As President Obama and his advisors debate future troop levels for Afghanistan, a new report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) muddies the water on one of the most important issues in the debate — the effects of Afghanistan’s drug production.

A Call for Clarity on the Afghanistan War

by Sonali Kolhatkar, Emily Schwartz Greco | Nov 2, 2009

While President Barack Obama reviews his strategy on Afghanistan, a perfect moment to send a strong unified message to end the war is slipping through our fingers. Whether it’s because we seem to have bought into the lies about the goals of this war or because we mistakenly feel that a Democratic president is going to come to the right conclusion on his own, one thing is clear: There’s no debate within the Democratic Party or in the White House about whether to end the war. The only thing being debated is how to continue the war.

Setting Out the Conditions for ‘Success’ in Afghanistan

by Erik Leaver, Mark Sedra | Oct 28, 2009

President Obama is right to be deliberate in contemplating General Stanley McChrystal’s request for a troop surge in Afghanistan, as that decision may determine the outcome of the eight-year U.S. engagement in Afghanistan and perhaps even the broader state-building process.

Swing Region

by John Feffer | Oct 20, 2009

In the game of geopolitics, South Asia is the big swing region. It commands the very center of the vast Eurasian heartland, which the founders of geopolitics identified as pivotal to control of the globe.