At the NATO Summit in Chicago this weekend, leaders will gather to discuss a number of issues facing the alliance. Top of the agenda will be Afghanistan, improving NATO’s military capabilities, and extending NATO’s partnerships with regional and global partners. However, nothing agreed at the summit will matter if America’s European allies do not start spending what is required on defense. Defense spending inside NATO is increasingly declining. As Libya and other NATO campaigns have demonstrated time and again, Europe relies too much on the U.S. to pick up the … More
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By Malou Innocent
The focus of the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago will be Afghanistan. President Obama is expected to speak of the need for solidarity from the international community. His only major success will be a pledge from NATO members to commit funds to Afghanistan well beyond 2014. Difficult questions surrounding the mission’s long-term sustainability will remain [...]
NATO Summit Will Reaffirm Afghanistan’s Weakness is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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The long-awaited NATO Summit being held in Chicago next week with more than 60 heads of state and government in attendance will focus much of its deliberations on the future of Afghanistan. While “transition” has become a buzzword for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the U.S and NATO Commander in Afghanistan General John Allen is rightly focusing instead on the importance of a long-term Alliance commitment to the country. Taking the long view onAfghanistanmeans NATO countries recognize that it is in their collective national security interest to preventAfghanistanfrom ever becoming … More
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By Malou Innocent
In today’s Washington Post, David Ignatius writes that Pakistan is reaping the whirlwind of homegrown terrorism by having “squandered the opportunity presented” with a large-scale U.S. troop presence next door and for refusing to work with Washington to stabilize its mountainous tribal region. Recent history suggests a more complex reality. Mr. Ignatius is correct when [...]
Ignatius on Pakistan: Actually, We May Have Only Had One Year is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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As part of an ongoing series, the Heritage Center for Legal and Judicial Studies periodically identifies a “Bill of the Week” that relates to the problem of overcriminalization in America. Our Bill of the Week segment usually highlights a piece of legislation that, due to its underlying policies, exacerbate the problem of overcriminalization. But this week we’re faced with a matter that shows why form must follow function. No reasonable person would recommend that the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee send a bill to the Senate floor restructuring our present … More
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By Malou Innocent
Less than a week after President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan and proclaimed, “We broke the Taliban’s momentum,” the chairs of the Senate and House intelligence committees offered a candid assessment of the U.S. mission. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), alongside Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” “I [...]
U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize Afghan Insurgents is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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French President-elect François Hollande campaigned on bringing all French troops home from Afghanistan by the end of the year. Therefore, if this election promise is kept, NATO will have a gap of 3,300 troops to fill in an important area of Afghanistan during an important stage of the campaign. Currently, the French have around 3,300 troops in Afghanistan located in the relatively peaceful but geographically important Kapisa Province between Kabul and the Pakistani border. After a rogue Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers and wounded another 16 in January, Afghanistan … More
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Mark McKinnon, a former Bush advisor, doesn’t get it. “GOP Attacks on Obama’s bin Laden Ad Misguided,” declares his piece in the Daily Beast. Of course, the President has a right to crow over getting bin Laden. But sorry, Mark—there is a difference between highlighting a decision to burnish the image of presidential leadership and a crass exploitation that demeans the office of the President. It’s true that there has been too much focus on the politics of the speech and not enough on the policy. Obama must have a … More
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By Christopher Preble
According to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): President Obama’s “trip to Afghanistan is an attempt to shore up his national security credentials, because he has spent the past three years gutting our military.” You decide: From National Defense (050) outlays, in billions of constant 2012 dollars: 2009 – $696 2010 - $715 2011 – $716 2012 (projected) - $716 [...]
‘Gutting’ Our Military is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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One year ago today, Seal Team Six landed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and succeeded in bringing Osama bin Laden to ultimate justice. Though some may wish to bask in the glow of that success, now is not the time to celebrate or lay down arms. Bin Laden may be dead, but serious threats against the United States live on, both here in the homeland and around the globe. President Obama, though, is using the occasion to boost his re-election efforts with a self-congratulatory campaign ad. Heritage’s James Carafano writes, “If Lincoln had spent … More
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