American Security Projectthe flash point blogSparking debate on

Author Archive

Reassessing McChrystal

McChrystal eyes securing Kandahar – CNN.com
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan vowed that coalition forces “are absolutely going to secure Kandahar,” as security efforts expand in the country’s south.….The push to secure Kandahar from what McChrystal calls a “menacing Taliban presence” is part of a larger counterinsurgency effort in the country’s south, started last month [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Afghanistan, National Security

Institutionalizing a Mess is not the Same as Fixing it

Opinion: It’s Still George Bush’s World – AOL News
Even more than a year after his inauguration, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy agenda is still largely devoted to fixing the messes he inherited from Bush. And that’s likely to continue to be the case for quite some time to come, unless Obama makes a more fundamental [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Afghanistan, Civil-Military Relations, Guantanamo Bay, National Security, Terrorism, Torture

Assessing Pakistan’s Crackdown on the Afghan Taliban

Who knew it would turn out to be quite so simple to round up much of the senior leadership of the Afghan Taliban?
Well, the reality is that most of us suspected it would be easy.  They’ve been operating more or less openly in Quetta since 2002, and have been active in Karachi for at least [...]

Comments (1) »
Posted in: Afghanistan, Pakistan

Why Is Pakistan Cracking Down Now?

I’ve been very skeptical of escalation in Afghanistan. Part of my skepticism was based on the belief that our actions would have little impact on Pakistan’s willingness to take action against the Afghan Taliban.  But recent arrests certainly cast doubt on that assessment:
Half of Afghanistan Taliban leadership arrested in Pakistan / The Christian Science Monitor [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Afghanistan, Pakistan

Steve Coll on AQ

House Testimony: The Paradoxes of Al Qaeda: Think Tank : The New Yorker
More broadly, with or without success in the pursuit of Al Qaeda’s leadership, the group’s self-isolation should provide a fundamental framework for U.S. counterterrorism policy, particularly in the communications sphere. That policy should be constructed to patiently reinforce Al Qaeda’s political isolation. (The [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Terrorism

Assessing the Yemen Strikes in the Short-Term and Long-Term

I keep harping on our lack of strategic thinking in the United States.  I know many people consider this an academic exercise, as in (paraphrasing): “Ivory toward academic Bernard Finel keeps suggesting we consider ’strategy’ explicitly, but the reality is that we have a complex threat environment and receive plenty of guidance from senior leaders [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: National Security, Terrorism

The “foot soldiers” Are Not the Problem

Britain, Japan to help reintegrate Taliban foot soldiers – washingtonpost.com
Britain and Japan have agreed to head an international fund, expected to total up to $500 million over the next five years, as part of a broad plan to help lure Taliban fighters away from the insurgency with the promise of jobs, protection against retaliation, and [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Afghanistan

Unanswered Questions

U.S. Envoy’s Cables Show Deep Concerns on Afghan Strategy – NYTimes.com
The ambassador, who left the military last April to become Mr. Obama’s emissary, also complained about an inadequate civilian counterpart organization to the NATO military command in Afghanistan. Nearly three months later, he is still expressing concerns about too few civilian experts in Afghanistan.
He also [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Afghanistan, National Security, Pakistan

Bin Laden Speaks… but What Does it Mean?

In audio message, bin Laden says he endorsed Dec. 25 airline bomb plot – washingtonpost.com
Osama bin Laden endorsed the failed attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner Christmas Day and threatened new attacks against the United States in an audio message released Sunday that appeared aimed at asserting that he maintains some direct command over [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Terrorism

The Need for Perspective

CongressDaily – Obama To Request $14.2B To Train, Equip Afghan Forces
President Obama is preparing to ask Congress for another $14.2 billion to grow, train and equip the Afghan National Security Forces for the remainder of this fiscal year and in FY11
This is roughly equivalent to Afghanistan’s GDP.  Think about that.  And is just addition train [...]

Comments (0) »
Posted in: Afghanistan

Home | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS) | The Flash Point Blog is powered by WordPress