Congressman McDermott’s floor speech reminds us that out-of-control Afghanistan spending brought down the Soviet Union.
Afghanistan Bleeding U.S. Financially Even More Than It Did the Soviet Union
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Afghanistan
Reduce Corruption, Defeat the Taliban
The possibility of a negotiated settlement for the 10-year war in Afghanistan finally gained some traction when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a political surge in February. Since then President Obama and other prominent officials have refuted the notion that the conflict can be resolved by military means alone. The goal is to create political solutions led and agreed upon by the Afghan government and the insurgency, and acknowledged by major regional players including Pakistan.
Reorienting U.S. Security Strategy in South Asia
Positive movement in the India-Pakistan relationship would go a long way to stabilizing the region. Although transnational terrorism remains a serious concern, it does not carry the same existential threat as does the risk of a regional nuclear war. Reducing Indian-Pakistani tensions will alleviate the need for Pakistan to continue its support for terrorist proxies and bring their national security interests more in line with those of the United States. Movement on this underlying issue will have a positive impact on many other regional concerns and help bring to an end the chronic instability that has plagued the region for the past 50 years.
As Taliban Tactics Grow More Sophisticated, Why Does It Still Use Suicide Bombers?
If the Taliban wishes to be taken more seriously, it needs to outgrow suicide bombing.
Afghanistan: Going through Withdrawal
When Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops into Afghanistan in 2009, he further stipulated that a withdrawal begin in July 2011 and continue until completion by 2014. As promised, the first drawdown of the 100,000-strong force is scheduled to take place next month. This withdrawal comes at a peak of anti-war sentiment.
Webb’s Parting Shots
To get elected to the Senate, you have to meet certain requirements. You have to be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for nine years, and a resident of the state you represent. Based on Jim Webb’s recent performance, I would like to propose a fourth requirement: you have to be a novelist. If we had 100 novelists in the Senate, the body might finally be able, like Webb, to distinguish fact from fiction.
Bahrain: Beyond the U.S.-Iran Rivalry
The popular uprising in Bahrain has put U.S. foreign policymakers in an awkward position. The U.S. government has largely lent its diplomatic weight to the Saudi regime in stifling popular uprising in Bahrain for fear that any democratic transformation in that country would work to Iran’s advantage, thus undermining U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region.
The New Face Of War
The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden did more than knock off U.S. Public Enemy Number One. It formalized a new kind of warfare, where sovereignty is irrelevant, armies tangential, and decisions are secret. It is, in the words of counterinsurgency expert John Nagl, “an astounding change in the nature of warfare.”
The New York Times Backs the Administration’s Tenderize-the-Taliban Policy
The New York Times backs the administration and Gen. Petraeus’s policy of softening up the Taliban with a pounding before talking with its representatives.
WikiLeaks: Canada’s Harper Embodies American Right’s Worst Tendencies
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose Conservative Party took a commanding majority in nationwide elections last week, has built his political success on a platform of his country’s supposed Arctic sovereignty, pro-business economics, and dodging action on climate change.