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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Groups under Al-Qaeda’s ‘syndicate’ in Afghanistan and Pakistan are trying ‘to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act.’
               – Secretary Robert Gates, New Delhi, January 20, 2010
It was just over a year ago that India demonstrated its [...]

Drone attacks may be expanded in Pakistan — latimes.com
Reporting from Washington – Senior U.S. officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond Pakistan’s tribal region and into a major city in an attempt to pressure the Pakistani government to pursue Taliban leaders based in Quetta.
The proposal has opened a contentious new front in the [...]

Arrest of Americans shows growing internationalism of Pakistani militant groups – washingtonpost.com
The arrest in Pakistan of five Americans who authorities say may have been on their way to terrorist training camps highlights the growing internationalism of Pakistani militant groups — both in their aims and their appeal.….The men, who had not been charged as of [...]

I can’t figure out how to summary or appropriately quote from this essay (Hotline to the jihad | The Australian), but it is a must-read.  First, a little background:
Leah Farrall is a former Australian intelligence analyst, now writing her dissertation on al Qaeda.  As she puts it:
In September, I rather cheekily requested a dialogue with [...]

The National Journal is hosting an expert debate on what to do about Pakistan. It was the focus of much of my remarks at last Friday’s ASP event with Congressman Skelton, Jonathan Landay, Steve Clemons, Caroline Wadhams, Bernard Finel and me.
I argue today that we need to help the Pakistani people and bolster their civil [...]

In the past week or so, we’ve seen the emergence of what must be the most curious — okay bizarre — argument yet about why the United States should remain in Afghanistan.  According to Jari Lindholm and Joshua Foust, both normally thoughtful regional experts, the war in Afghanistan is crucial to prevent a nuclear war [...]

Stephen Biddle is the single best defense analyst working today. His arguments are usually carefully considered and well supported empirically. For a generation of younger defense intellectuals, he is very much the gold standard, the model to emulate.
His recent essay in the American Interest (Is It Worth It? The Difficult Case for War in Afghanistan) [...]