Replacing the Current AfPak Strategy with a New One
written by: Ehsan Ahrari
Jul 08, 2010

With the firing of General Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama appears to be writing his own edition of "lessons in disaster," a book of the same title that he so publicly read and supposedly drew lessons from before committing 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. One wonders whether he ...more

Mineral Riches of Afghanistan: Need for Thinking Out of the Box
written by: Ijaz Khan
Jul 06, 2010

In the life of individuals as well as States there are moments when they must take crucial decisions which determine their future. Opportunities knock at every door; only few are awake and thus respond when there door is knocked. Pakistan has missed many opportunities, yet another one is ...more

Afghanistan Needs A Hero: How A Unifying National Leader Can Bring Peace
written by: Michael Hughes
Jun 28, 2010

There is only one prescription for peace in Afghanistan - a formula clearly laid out to me recently by renowned experts and authorities on Central Asia, including the former highest ranking officer of Pakistan's armed forces.

Khalil Nouri: Afghanistan: - Danger Looms if Afghan Vice President & Warlord becomes Country’s President.
written by: Khalil Nouri
Jun 23, 2010

What some Afghan natives and analysts call the most dangerous part of the world has reached a critical juncture, "a tipping point". Per Guardian ...more

Support the Proposals of the Afghanistan Peace Jirga!
written by: Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann
Jun 08, 2010

From June 2nd to June 4th 2010, over 1,600 delegates from all regions and social groups in Afghanistan assembled in the first National Consultative Peace Jirga (Loya Jirga) to discuss the reconciliation process.

...more

Afghanistan: The National Consultative Peace Jirga Resolution
Jun 08, 2010

The National Consultative Peace Jirga (NCPJ) or Loya Jirga in Kabul in Afghanistan from June 2-4, 2010 participated by 1,600 delegates representing the suffering nation of Afghanistan from all walks of life including from both Houses of the Parliament, Provincial Councils, religious scholars, tribal ...more

U.S. lost in Afghan vote
written by: Peter W. Galbraith
May 25, 2010

President Hamid Karzai's sham win in 2009 was bad enough; coming parliamentary voting could be worse in terms of corruption.

Will we ever learn? In 2009, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who will meet with President Obama in Washington this week, ripped off American taxpayers ...more

Get Karzai out of the line of fire in Afghanistan now!
written by: Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann
Apr 12, 2010

Four months ago the World Security Network had already proposed moving Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai out of the line of fire - one of the first global media organisations to do so:

"Karzai should be invited by France into a golden retirement (previously managed successfully with ...more

Afghanistan - Spiritual Home of Taliban set to be next NATO-led target
written by: Delancy Johansson
Apr 06, 2010

At a seminar arranged by the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, two on-the ground experts, Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, ...more

Hamid Karzai: "The war in Afghanistan is not a war of choice, but a war of necessity"
Feb 08, 2010

It is a pleasure and honour to be addressing this distinguished forum on world security. Thank you Ambassador Ischinger for inviting me to this year's forum to share the view from Afghanistan. This year, Afghanistan has entered a new phase of partnership with the international community in our joint struggle against terrorism and in building a stable, democratic and economically self-reliant country. I appreciate the opportunity today to discuss this new phase of partnership at this forum.

Japan's Peacebuilding Policy toward Afghanistan: The Need for a Civilian Surge to Improve Security
written by: Yuji Uesugi
Feb 01, 2010

On 1^st December 2009, US President Barack Obama announced his new strategy toward Afghanistan. Overall, it was a reasonable strategy that reflected the US position in the struggle, with its situation analysis and objectives based on an earlier version announced in February 2009. Obama ...more

Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan
written by: Major General Michael T. Flynn, Captain Matt Pottinger and Paul D. Batchelor
Jan 19, 2010

This paper, written by the senior intelligence officer in Afghanistan and by a company-grade officer and a senior executive with the Defense Intelligence Agency, critically examines the relevance of the U.S. intelligence community to the counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. Based on discussions ...more

Taliban Assault on Kabul
Jan 18, 2010

The Taliban attack in Kabul is reportedly winding down. The assault began around 9:35 a.m. local time Jan. 18 (the day the new Cabinet was being sworn in) when reports of rocket fire and explosions were heard in the Afghan capital near several government buildings.

Just 23 minutes later, ...more

Afghanistan: Negotiations with the Taliban as the Path to Peace
written by: Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann
Dec 07, 2009

Priority must now be given to discussions and a focus on solid, realistic solutions that lead to peace and stability in Afghanistan. Until now, the end-state of peace, and realistic options and routes to it, have been neglected. This war's cost in blood and dollars has increased dramatically, so a new longer term strategy to find a solution is needed.

Veterans of Soviet war see same errors by US
written by: Charles Clover
Dec 08, 2009

It was May 1985 when General Igor Rodionov stepped off a military transport aircraft at Kabul airport, assuming command of the Soviet Union's 40th Army fighting in Afghanistan.

His now-creased face tells the ensuing story better than words. He was the fifth of seven Soviet commanders, sharing ...more

Afghanistan - Of Tribes and Allies for a Political Strategy
written by: J.D. Bindenagel
Dec 03, 2009

Afghanistan is a mess. Afghan President Karzai, in his second inauguration address, has vowed to combat corruption, to make it possible for foreign troops to leave in five years and to work with his main rivals. General Stanley McChrystal has proposed more troops for NATO's Afghanistan counterinsurgency ...more

Obama: U.S. security is still at stake
written by: Scott Wilson
Dec 02, 2009

AFGHAN WAR TO ESCALATE
30,000 more troops; pullout begins mid-2011

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- President Obama announced Tuesday that he will send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to ...more

Obama, Prime Minister Brown slammed by military leaders in US, UK
written by: Jim Kouri
Nov 09, 2009

While several former US military commanders have complained about President Barack Obama dragging his feet in deciding whether or not to give his generals the additional troops they say they need to succeed in Afghanistan, British defense bigwigs have alleged that Prime Minister Gordon Brown is failing ...more

Keeping Our Allies On Our Side
written by: Leo Michel and Robert Hunter
Nov 04, 2009

In Afghanistan, that means the U.S. must be willing to listen.

'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 ...more

U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game
written by: Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung
Oct 29, 2009

Obama and advisers evaluating exercise that used different troop levels

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 ...more

In Helmand, a model for success?
written by: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Oct 26, 2009

Influx of Marines and focus on security bring peace to a southern Afghan town -- at least for now

NAWA, Afghanistan -- Before a battalion of U.S. Marines swooped into this dusty farming community along the Helmand River in early July, almost every stall in the bazaar had ...more

The U.S. Challenge in Afghanistan
written by: George Friedman and Reva Bhalla
Oct 22, 2009

The decision over whether to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan may wait until the contested Afghan election is resolved, U.S. officials said Oct. 18. The announcement comes as ...more

Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy
written by: Syed Saleem Shahzad
Oct 16, 2009

ANGORADA, South Waziristan, at the crossroads with Afghanistan - A high-level meeting on October 9 at the presidential palace between Pakistan's civil and military leaders endorsed a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda in the South Waziristan tribal area - termed by analysts ...more

The new killing fields?
Oct 15, 2009

Gretchen Peters spent over a decade as a news reporter covering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Here she argues that the main way to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda there is through cutting off their drugs money.

According to a recent report for the US Senate Foreign Relations ...more

Afghan Strategy Divides Lawmakers
written by: Scott Wilson
Oct 07, 2009

Congressional leaders left a rare bipartisan meeting with President Obama on Tuesday divided over what strategy the administration should adopt to fight an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan and how quickly it must do so to protect U.S. forces already on the ground.

Obama called congressional ...more

NATO Says Afghan Battle Proved Costly for Militants
written by: Elisabeth Bumiller
Oct 07, 2009

WASHINGTON - A battle that killed eight Americans at a pair of remote military bases in Afghanistan last weekend also left more than 100 insurgents dead, NATO said in a statement released on Tuesday.

The statement said that insurgent forces suffered "significantly higher losses than originally ...more

Attacks on Remote Posts Highlight Afghan Risks
written by: Sabrina Tavernise and Sangar Rahimi
Oct 05, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan - Insurgents attacked a pair of remote American military bases in Afghanistan over the weekend in a deadly battle that underscored the vulnerability of the kind of isolated bases that the top American commander there wants to scale back.

The commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, ...more

The stakes in Afghanistan go well beyond Afghanistan
written by: Daniel Twining
Oct 02, 2009

The problem with the current debate over Afghanistan is that it is too focused on Afghanistan. There is no question that the intrinsic importance of winning wars our country chooses to fight -- to secure objectives that remain as compelling today as they were on September 12, 2001 -- is itself reason ...more