There’s a bunch of good news coming from one senior official in the State Department. According to this unnamed source, “the war on terror is over,” and “people who once might have gone into al Qaeda see an opportunity for a legitimate Islamism.” That may be true if—and only if—you accept the Obama Administration’s outlook on the Muslim world and the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan—and if you believe that Islamist ideology can, in fact, be legitimate. The news of this new perspective comes from the National Journal, which … More
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Despite serious setbacks for the U.S. in Afghanistan over the last three months, the two countries were able to conclude a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) over the weekend that lays a broad framework for U.S.–Afghan relations following the end of U.S. and NATO combat operations in 2014. The agreement will both demonstrate to the Afghans that the U.S. will remain committed to the country long after 2014 and provide a framework for the U.S. to maintain a residual presence to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism missions. The details of … More
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Despite serious setbacks for the U.S. in Afghanistan over the last three months, the two countries were able to conclude a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) over the weekend that lays a broad framework for U.S.–Afghan relations following the end of U.S. and NATO combat operations in 2014. The agreement will both demonstrate to the Afghans that the U.S. will remain committed to the country long after 2014 and provide a framework for the U.S. to maintain a residual presence to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism missions. The details of … More
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Details are still emerging on the killings of 16 Afghan civilians by a U.S. soldier in Kandahar province. U.S. officials call it an isolated incident in which one rogue soldier acted alone. Obviously if the initial reports are true, this is a horrifying event that will shake how Americans and the world at large view U.S. commitment to that war effort. As appalling as this incident may be and as gruesome as the details to come may prove, however, any decision on this war must be made strictly on national … More
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By Christopher Preble
Over the past few weeks, a number of pernicious myths have popped up regarding the Pentagon’s budget. Here I want to dispel these myths with an exhaustive, and exhausting, look at the details. The charts below, compiled with my colleague Charles Zakaib, should help. The President’s Budget officially requests $613.9 billion for the Pentagon FY [...]
The Pentagon Budget: Myth vs. Reality is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Justin Logan
One of the perennial laments about American strategy offered by people like me is that Washington seems incapable of setting out clear priorities in its foreign policy. Everything is urgently …
Trying to Do Everything, Doing Nothing Well is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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The mixed messages coming from the Obama Administration last week on the future of combat operations in Afghanistan have left our allies confused, the Afghan people anxious, and the insurgency stronger. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told his press entourage on his way to the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels that: Hopefully, by mid- to the latter part of 2013, we’ll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advice and assist role, which is basically fulfilling what Lisbon was all about. But the … More
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In a secret NATO report recently leaked to the British media, Taliban insurgents told their interrogators that they are increasingly confident that the Taliban will retake power once NATO forces depart Afghanistan, and that Pakistan is positioning itself for such an outcome. NATO officials have sought to downplay the report’s contents, emphasizing that it represents uncorroborated pieces of information, not an overall analysis of the military situation. Still, the contents of the report should give pause to those who are pushing for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban. There are … More
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The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that the U.S. has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantanamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents’ agreement to open a political office in Qatar. If true, this would demonstrate that the Obama Administration is dangerously naïve about the reality of the threat the Taliban continues to pose in the region. It also could reveal that the Administration has no real strategy for achieving U.S. counterterrorism objectives in the region and is desperate to strike a deal with the … More
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On a Saturday in late October in Kabul, Afghanistan, a car carrying explosives rammed into an armored U.S. military bus, killing 13 Americans, including five soldiers and eight civilian staff. In August, a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans. Who was responsible? The Taliban. And who now says the Taliban is not America’s enemy? Vice President Joseph Biden. In an interview with Newsweek, Biden laid out his — and the Administration’s view — of the Taliban: Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s … More
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