The Iraqi/Afghan Wars: how we got into them, how they are being prosecuted, how we find ways to get out of them.

Iraqi/Afghan War Link Archives - Page 1

Iraqi/Afghan War Link Archives - Page 2

HEADLINES

5/21/10

U.S. MAY BE SUFFERING SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FROM AF/PAK DRONE WAR. While the evidence is sketchy that the Times Square bombmaker was angered by such attacks, there is little doubt that military operations there as well as U.S. homeland security is subject to severe blow-back in resentment of the attacks by the residents of these countries. The small ratio of "Taliban militants" killed in such attacks to the number killed who are civilians (however that category is defined) or simply self-described freedom fighters is fuelling that resentment.

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5/21/10

U.S. MAY BE SUFFERING SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FROM AF/PAK DRONE WAR. While the evidence is sketchy that the Times Square bombmaker was angered by such attacks, there is little doubt that military operations there as well as U.S. homeland security is subject to severe blow-back in resentment of the attacks by the residents of these countries. The small ratio of "Taliban militants" killed in such attacks to the number killed who are civilians (however that category is defined) or simply self-described freedom fighters is fuelling that resentment.

5/19/10

U.S. PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN: A ROADMAP FOR FOLLY. Franklin Spinney sees in the latest-announced plans an arrogance and ignorance associated with the focus of the plan on "shaping" Afghan tribal leadership to the U.S./N.A.T.O. agenda of bringing the people away from their insurgency. The arrogance of this resides in the presumption of U.S. right to determine the nature of Afghanistan's political leadership; the ignorance in their total lack of understanding of the natives' own agenda of political action, which features the continuation of their long struggle to repel foreign invaders from the country.

5/14/10

WILL U.S. COMBAT MISSION IN IRAQ END ON AUGUST 31, 2010? President Obama has repeatedly said, "as plainly I can," that this will happen. Justin Raimondo is deeply skeptical, noting every indication that this deadline will come and pass and excuses will be found for U.S. forces to remain there indefinitely, because of the continuing "violence" in the country and the continuing inability of Iraqis to form a "stable" government.

5/12/10

FLAT STANLEY: McCHRYSTAL'S AFGHAN WAR PLAN IS A McFAILURE. According to Gareth Porter, this is the "pessimistic" assessment of the situation in the Pentagon itself according to "sources" speaking to the press. The expected rapid conversion of insurgents into allies, with a quick import of "government in a box" provided for local leaders who would introduce viable political control in places like Marja and Kandahar is running afoul of the lack of any such "boxes" being available and the corruption and unreliability of those very local leaders.

5/10/10

SHAHZAD FALL-OUT: U.S. WARNS PAKISTAN TO STEP UP PRESSURE ON TALIBAN IN NORTH WAZIRISTAN. Pakistani connections of alleged terrorist bomb plotter in Times Square lead U.S. officials to adopt a new tone of toughness in demanding that the Pakistanis crack down on Muslim militant. While the U.S. has concentrated drone attacks on insurgent strongholds in North Waziristan, officials are now demanding Pakistani attacks on the area and there is even ominous talk of American "boots on the ground" in the area.

5/3/10

IN AFGHANISTAN, EVERY DAY IS LIKE A WATERGATE DAY. Fouad Pervez describes ongoing cover-ups of continuing incidents of violoent U.S. military actions resulting in numerous civilian casualties. The situtation follows the usual pattern of cover-up and revelation: incident happens, reported by individual citizens, authorities promse to investigate but fail to do so, press ignores or minimizes the situation, someone does some Woodward/Bernstein style investigative reporting that blows the cover on the scandal, forcing it to public attention and perhaps to some ultimate accountability. A "third rate burglary" or a "botched night-time raid" finally becomes the occasion for the heads of responsible persons to role, a level of development not yet reached with the Afghan civilian casualties, but a bettor might not want to bet on General McChrystal's military career

4/24/10

"EXIT STRATEGY" FOR AFGHANISTAN MAY NOT INVOLVE ANY ACTUAL REMOVAL OF FOREIGN TROOPS FROM THE COUNTRY. This seems to be the meaning of a new "strategy" that emerges from a NATO summit meeting in Estonia. For "decades ahead," the strategy indicates that NATO troops will stay in the country even as control of military operations is "handed over" to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Any guesses on how that is going to work out?

4/20/10

TALIBAN TO U.S. MILITARY: THANK YOU FOR LEAVING US THIS NICE MILITARY BASE IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN. As U.S. abandons a base in Korengal province in pursuit of a new strategy to concentrate operations on urban centers, al Jazeerha TV shows footage of Taliban figthers moving onto that base, finding sandbag emplacements and (allegedly) some military equipment left behind by the U.S. whose soldiers have gone to Kandahar, every one.

4/18/10

IN THE UK ELECTIONS, THERE'S A "CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE" ABOUT AFGHANISTAN AMONG THE LEADERS OF THE THREE LEADING POLITICAL PARTIES. UK Independent cites recent poll showing 77% of Britons want British forces withdrawal from that conflict, the majority believing that British participation is harmful to the UK's own homeland security. This is not reflected in any profound opposition to the war's continuation by any of the country's political leaders.

4/13/10

WILL UPCOMING KANDAHAR OPERATION PROVIDE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN? Conn Hallinan examines that possibility in the context of an analysis that asserts that the last "big" operation, in Marjuh, was a "fraud" in terms of its announced objectives of clearing out an al Qaeda nest or disrupting the opium poppy trade but, as a post-battle assessment in Washington indicates, may have been the "success" that the U.S. may have needed to negotiate with the Taleban, and "declare victory and go home." Apparently it was decided that not yet enough such cover was generated and that a yet "bigger" operation in Kandahar would be necessary. Meantime, the international geo-politics of an Afgan settlement promises to make the negotiations very complex indeed, as the national interests of such nations as China, Russia and Iran come into play.

4/12/10

Afghan official accepts as true what U.S. military authorities deny: that American soldiers were involved in tampering with forensic evidence in the deaths of civilians killed in a Special Forces raid.

4/9/10

ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN. Insurgents clash with security forces across the country. Independent news agency Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) records incidents of violence involving French forces in Kapisa and Afghan National Army ones in Baghis as well as many others. In these reports there is the usual conflict between what "officials" say of the incidents and what civilians tell the "unembedded" reporters for PAN.

4/7/10

PAKISTAN IS IN PIECES (LITERALLY) SAYS ROBERT FISK. The British reporter, on the scene of the Pakistani version of the "war on terrorism," describes the two-way terrorism of both the Taliban and the terrorism-fighting forces of the "space colonialism" of the U.S. and NATO. Aggressive drone raids and vengeful Taliban actions against civilians have acted alike in inflicting civilian casualities. These include a drone raid on a madras (school) in which 80 teenagers are blown into pieces that could not be "fit together" to create coherent corpses.

4/6/10

THE UNITED STATES TAKES "VERY SERIOUSLY" THE ALLEGATION THAT THERE WAS AN ESCALATION OF BIRTH DEFECTS IN AFTERMATH OF THE 2004 INVASION OF FALLUJAH. Well, says William Blum, "very seriously" in terms of the U.S. government's strenuous effort to see that no international court will bring to accountability for damages the military forces of the U.S. To accomplish this, the government bribed and threatened nations of the world not to support the International Criminal Court which was designed to prosecute just such allegations.

4/6/10

"Friendly fire" incident reported in Afghanistan as German soldiers "mistakenly" kill 6 members of Afghan army.

4/5/10

SPRING THAW: ICE GETS EVER THINNER FOR U.S. SKATING IN ITS AFGHAN OPERATION. After the last round of President Hamid Karzai's "controversial" comments about U.S. interference in Afghanistan, he goes to Kandahar, next scheduled major counter-insurgency scene for NATO forces, and once again plays the "anti-West card," telling legislators that their failure to allow him to take control of an Electoral Commission will be a "victory" for western interferers. Some legislators say he even threatened to join the insurgency himself if the interference continues.

4/4/10

THE BEST PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN THAT MONEY (CAN'T) BUY. It worked in Iraq, it is failing in Afghanistan: the U.S. policy of dispensing money to Afghans to buy their "hearts and minds" (or at least their stopping of anti-US violence). After the Marja operation, the Marines started distributing large amounts of cash to Afghans claiming compensation for damages incurred in that operation. The Taliban responds to the program by beating those people who accept the payments and/or themselves impersonating victims and pocketing the cash to be expended for further insurgency operations. A Marine commander says we have to "change our tactics."

3/29/10

OBAMA VISITS THE TROOPS FOR A PEP RALLY IN AFGHANISTAN. The President makes a surprise visit to Bagram AFB and does a hip-hip-hurrah routine in which he repeats boilerplate rhetoric, held over from last presidential administration, about the Afghan mission as related to 9/11 and the alleged "plotting" of further operations by Al Qaeda (all 100 of them) in Afghanistan. The Common Dreams reprint of the text of this speech contains many references to (applause). The comments attached to this transcript show reactions in various degrees and modes of condemnation, but probably nothing that could fairly be characterized as (applause).

3/29/10

CIA "RED CELL" THINKS "OUT OF THE BOX" ABOUT SHORING UP EUROPEAN SUPPORT FOR NATO'S AFGHAN OPERATION. CIA think tank with this tag submits a report, published by Wikileaks, suggesting how, in the aftermath of the fall of the Dutch government on the issue of such support, French and German reticence could be overcome by the way the operation is "presented" to the public. The French, for example, are susceptible to concern about women's rights under the Taliban, Germans to a fear of "fallout" terrorism in Germany as blowback to the operation. Like any campaign, different strokes for different folks.

3/27/10

KANDAHAR OFFENSIVE IN AFGANISTAN IS MONTHS IN THE MAKING; AND THE TALIBAN PREPARES TO DEFEND THE PLACE BY DESTROYING IT. The well-publicized intention to make Kandahar the focus of the application of the U.S. "surge" against the Afghan insurgency has given the Taliban ample time to prepare a dig-in defense and to terrorize the local population, as no credible or effective Afghan government is able to control Taliban violence, and the city may effectively be in ruins before the first NATO shot is fired.

3/21/10

"WHO PROVED THAT THESE MEN WERE GUILTY?" This question is asked by an Afghan tribal elder, one of several who are asked to "sign" for released U.S.-incarcerated terrorist suspects, saying that they will be responsible for insuring that those released will not become involved with insurgents. As well the release paper they sign has them agree to the proposition that the detainees had been "reasonably" held by the U.S. based on best intelligence. Many elders are angered by their perception that, as claimed by detainees themselves, they were innocent of insurgency involvement when they were captured, as the U.S. implictly admits by the fact of their release.

3/16/10

ARE SPECIAL OPS THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTERS OF U.S. MILITARY ACTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN? The commander of U.S. forces, General Stanley McChrystal, who rose to military prominence as himself a Special Ops commander, responds to rising criticism of civilian casualties by issuing new "controls" on the operations, including forbidding of night time raids and attempting to centralize all operations under his own command. The Pentagon cites the "success" of his restrictions, noting a drop in the number of civilian deaths "attributed" to Special Ops actions. Skeptics note that these "attributions" (based on questionable military "investigations") may represent a cover-up of the real facts. McChrystal having thus thrown his own subordinates under the bus for a defect in his operations, one wonders who will next go under that bus if the "collateral damage" of civilian casualities persists---maybe the manufacturer of that errant missile that widely misses its "military" target and hits a "civilian" one---or maybe the buck will stop at McChrystal's desk.

3/14/10

AFGHANISTAN: U.S. MARINES DO THEIR OWN THING AT THE "END OF THE EARTH." A 3000 troop contingency of Marines is establishing a large base of operations in a remote part of southwestern Afghanistan called Delaram, with a population only 1% of that of the whole country. NATO commanders exercise little control over the operations in what some call "Marinistan," and skeptics wonder why 10% of the 30,000 unit "surge" of troops is being expended here when the next "major operation" of the conflict is to be in Kandahar which military planners say will require all available troops. Meanwhile the Marines do their intensive "hearts and minds" thing as a large number of troops seeks unusually close "engagement" with the local population

3/11/10

AFGHANISTAN NOW A FULLY BI-PARTISAN WAR. 189 House Democrats join 167 Republicans in 365-65 vote against Kucinich resolution to halt funding for the Afghan operation beyond the end of this year. Only 60 Democrats join 5 Republicans and 1 Independent in voting for the resolution.

3/11/10

GOOD NEWS AND BAD ABOUT THOSE U.S. DRONE ATTACKS IN PAKISTANI TRIBAL AREAS. Good news: they have "taken out" much of the Taleban leadership among the insurgency. Bad news: they have greatly increased the rank and file recruitment to that insurgency through local resentment of civilian casualties and the all-around destructiveness of the attacks.

3/9/10

AFGHANISTAN: IN A WAR OF PERCEPTIONS, MISINFORMATION IS YOUR WEAPON AND THE MEDIA ARE YOUR ALLY. Gareth Porter makes this observation about NATO's capture of the "city" of Marja (pop 80,000) in the "largest operation" of the Afghan conflict. In fact Marja is nothing like the city or the town that the military's press releases indicated, but rather a collection of agricultural clusterings spread over 80 square miles with only one farmer' market in the area even called "Marja." The hyping of the assault was apparently a propaganda operation, orchestrated at the highest level of military command, to portray the much wished-for "progress" in the country; and the world's mainstream collaborated in this "perception management" by persistent references to Marja as a "city" or a "town."

3/8/10

ROBERT FISK ON IRAQI ELECTIONS: WESTERN DEMOCRACY DOESN'T WORK VERY WELL IN AN OCCUPIED COUNTRY. Although the current election was, as the last one in 2005, conducted under conditions of severe violence, at least this time most of the religious confessions are allowed in the outcome designed as a "broad coalition" of Shia, Sunnis and Kurds. Ironically, the election creates the kind of "enshrined sectarianism" that Operation Iraqi Freedom was supposedly to have overcome

3/7/10

CIVILIAN SURGE INTO AFGHANISTAN IS (SO FAR) VERY FAR FROM A TSUMANI. State Department's IG Report observes many problems of the U.S. embassy in Kabul in trying to implement a new counter-insurgency strategy to bring in many thousands of civilian experts to supplement the military surge in the country. Qualified people are hard to find, hard to attract when there is little acceptable housing for them, hard to keep beyond a 10-months tour of duty; and the embassy is over-stressed by its multiple functions in Kabul, including the hosting of a true tsunami of "war tourists" including numerous members of Congress who go on "fact-finding" missions to the war-torn country. Those 4:30 a.m. conference calls from Washington officials calling at 7 p.m. EST don't help matters either.

3/6/10

DID BLACKWATER ENJOY "DIPLOMATIC IMPUNITY" FOR ITS SECURITY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN? The firm's contract to provide security for U.S. embassies in Baghdad and Kabul was marked by eruptions of violence against local populations. Former members of the State Department claim that there is an "above the law" attitude present in the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security that condoned the view of "anything goes in the name of security," an attitude resulting in the Bureau's alleged impeding of Justice Department investigations of these incidents.

3/1/10

IRAQ MAY BE HOPING FOR 8-YEAR EXTENSION IN THE U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE COUNTRY. As violence continues in Iraq, Defense Minister says that training of Iraqi security forces has been moving more slowly than expected, and that they may not be prepared to maintain security before about the year 2020. Plan for U.S. withdrawal by 2012 may have to be adjusted accordingly.

2/24/10

MARJAH OFFENSIVE MAY HAVE BEEN DESIGNED LARGELY FOR AMERICAN DOMESTIC POLITICAL CONSUMPTION. Gareth Porter digs in the back pages of the Washington Post to find an article by reporters who cite "sources" within U.S. military that Marjah was a less vital target than Kandahar, but was chosen for a "largest" Afghan offensive to give General McChrystal a "win" to bolster flagging U.S. support for the Afghan operation and maybe even to prepare the public opinion ground for a delay of U.S. withdrawal as scheduled, as "progess" can be cited as well as "work yet to be done" after the scheduled July 2011 completion of the mission.

2/23/10

JEFF HUBER: U.S. COUNTER-INSURGENCY STRATEGY SUFFERING FROM A TERMINAL CASE OF "MARJAH MADNESS." In what sounds like a chapter from Joseph Heller's Catch 22, Huber describes the syndrome of circular reasoning which leads to no conclusion to the situation being described. American Special Forces, its Green Beret elite, have supposedly been training Afghan Army troops to take over the country's security and they have responded as a "pack of Gomer Pyles" who mostly shoot themselves in the foot and their Green Beret trainers in the leg; and an Afghan operation is a Marine-dominated action with Afghan soldiers tagging along. To counter this deficiency, the Generals are now invoking a "civilian surge" ranging from "government in a box" delivery to "liberated" places like Marjah, to American civilians providing "infrastructure" repair missions in which they have to be "protected" by the military forces of NATO as the Afghan people express their non-appreciation to these "helpers." Will the book on this "war" be called Catch 23?

2/22/10

MEANWHILE, BACK IN URUZGAN. A NATO air strike kills 33 civilians, including several women and children, riding in a convoy of vehicles in a mountainous region of Afghanistan, as they were falsely identified as insurgents. The incident precipitates the usual ritual of a condemnation by Afghan PM Karzai, a profuse apology by General McChrystal and promise to investigate and to re-double the efforts of NATO efforts to win Afghan "hearts and minds" by strict avoidance of such collateral damage.

2/22/10

"Humanitarian crisis" may be looming as civilians flee area of NATO invasion of Marjah.

2/19/10

ALL THE PENTAGON PROPAGANDA THAT'S FIT TO PRINT. Jeff Huber takes the New York Times to task for printing an article by two of its reporters that appears to be taken right off the press releases of AfPak public relations agents relative to the capture of the "No. 2 man" in the hierarchy of the Taliban. With typical breathless hyperbole, this action is touted as the most important capture since the beginning of the Afghan "war" (just as Marjah is the "war's biggest operation"), providing a "window" into the Taliban leadership. Huber calls its typical Pentagon/Times "bullfeathers."

2/18/10

"SUSPENDED" ON SUNDAY FOR 3 DAYS, HiMARS REPORT BACK FOR DUTY AGAIN IN MARJAH. After a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System missile struck a home killing 12 civilians, its use was suspended by NATO while it "investigated" the incident. The initial statement of NATO was that it was an accidental missing of an insurgent target and a hitting of a home full of people "staying put" in their homes as NATO had suggested. Then NATO changed its story that it was not a mistake but a deliberate strike on a target in which insurgents were said to be holed up. Marines on the ground deny having "called in" in any strike on that target. Whatever the results of NATO's "investigation," the HiMARS were returned to service three days after they were banned.

2/16/10

MARJAH, NOW UNDER NATO ASSAULT, IS AN ANCIENT AFGHAN VILLAGE; DATING ALL THE WAY BACK TO 1957. And its development is the product of a USAID "agricultural development" project. The buildings have long since fallen into disrepair and the "agriculture" in poppy production, but the battle between the Taliban and both Afghan police and foreign militaries has waxed and waned over the decades. A Princeton University student develops this little-known history of a now over-known Afghan locality in a dispatch to the New York Times.

2/16/10

NATO admits air strike that killed 5 civilians in Helmand Province mistakenly believed to have been planting roadside bombs.

2/15/10

SECOND DAY OF NATO OPERATION IN MARJAH HITS A SNAFU. A term of military origin (Situation Normal, All F...ed Up) rises to mind as a recurring theme of Iraqi and Afghan counter-insurgency operations appears in the "largest offensive" of the Afghan operation. Expecting minimal opposition from insurgents, NATO soldiers encounter a fierce one and have to "call in" artillery fire on a resisting group of insurgents. NATO officials had promised civilians immunity from damage if they "stayed put" in their homes, but the artillery shell goes 300 meters astray, hits a crowded home of the staying put, as a result of which at least 12 of them were killed. NATO "apologizes," but the loss of the "hearts and minds" aspect of the operation threatens to be the collateral damage of an operation that was supposed to assure the Afghan people of protection from harm by the Taliban

2/13/10

"AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE AFGHAN FLAG WILL BE OVER MARJA." The New York Times uses this plant-the-flag rhetoric of the U.S. Marine commander in describing the launching of a NATO assault on the Afghan town of Marja. In the hoary style of breathless war front journalism, the Times indulges in much of the hyperbole in news coverage that has characterized the long-publicized operation: that it will be the "largest" operation of the Afghan war and features as well the "hopes" of its commanders that this will somehow reverse the "momentum" of increasing NATO battle deaths and their "hopes" that civilian casualties will be minimized. Hope and glory, raise the flag and don't give up the poppy field!

2/12/10

THE COMING BATTLE FOR MARJAH: FINALLY A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY FOR WAR-HUNGRY PRESS. Patrick Cockburn portrays the impending assault on the Afghan town as having a "script" of "victory no matter what," giving the press and the American public which is faltering in support of that conflict a sense that Afghanistan is indeed a "winnable" war.It is likely to be deja vu the Iraqi operation as battles like that in Fallujah left the public with the impression that that U.S. was "winning" that conflict, even as American forces were beginning to be withdrawn with most of the Iraqi "mission" not accomplished.

2/11/10

FEW CIVILIANS OR TALIBAN HAVE LEFT MARJAH AS LONG-AWAITED NATO ASSAULT MAY ALREADY HAVE BEGUN. NATO has given contradictory messages to residents about whether to evacuate or to stay in the Afghan town as a major action begins to clear the town of Taliban control. About 2,000 Taliban are said to be "dug in" there, although NATO had apparently hoped their warnings would have sent them into flight. Only 1 or 2% of the civilians have left and NATO is now urging them to stay inside and keep their heads down; which is what the Taliban will undoubtedly do in their strategy of survival by blending into the city's civilian population.

2/9/10

ROAD TO MARJAH IS PAVED WITH ROADSIDE BOMBS. With extended warning of imminent NATO invasion of this southern Afghan town, the Taliban is preparing a "welcome" that includes numerous bombs and friendly handshakes as they "blend" into the civilian landscape of the town. The warnings urge militants to leave or be killed, but most of the evacuees are civilians (if they can brave bobby-trapped roads to make their escapes.)

2/8/10

40 mile stretch of road between Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan is a "white knuckle highway" of violent attacks.

2/7/10

NATO TO PEOPLE OF MARJAH, AFGHANISTAN: GET READY, WE'RE GOING TO SAVE YOU FROM INSURGENTS BY BOMBING YOUR TOWN. U.S. and U.K. plan one of the "biggest operations" of the Afghan mission as they issue a warning of an impending aerial assault. In what one commenter calls an "insane" procedure, a NATO spokesman says the warning is intended primarily to "encourage" insurgents to the leave the town, while many civilians will remain, making the "collateral damage" of an operation THE damage of that operation.

2/6/10

IF YOU'RE A GIRLS' SCHOOL IN PAKISTAN, BE CAREFUL WHOM YOU INVITE TO YOUR OPENING CEREMONY. A convoy of American trainer soldiers and Pakistani para-militaries trained by them arrive at a girls' school developed with help of the trainers. As they arrive, a bomb detonates that kills 3 Americans and 2 teenage girls and injures many of the students. The incident only aggravates what Time Magazine calls "wild" conspiracy theories about U.S. assassinations sqauds and anger at continuing drone raids and their "collateral damage" of civilian causalities.

1/29/10

TALIBAN TO LONDON CONFERENCE: OUR LOYALTY IS NOT FOR SALE. As nations assemble in conference to find ways to end Afghan insurgency and rumors persist that the conference will try to raise funds to bribe the insurgents to join the government, Taliban headquarters issues a statement that their resistance is not for sale, that it is based on their faith and not their monetary calculations.

1/27/10

A WORLD FUND-RAISER TO BRIBE THE TALIBAN? That's the way the conference now convening in London looks to Jason Ditz. He notes that the conference hopes to raise $500 million for deposit in a Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund, which may be a euphemism for money to pay off Taliban leaders to quit the insurgency and join the Afghan government, which is also Hamid Karzai's agenda. Ditz expresses doubt that such bribery will work, in that the insurgency is going "so well" for them, but they may be waiting to see how large the bribe pot gets before the reject it.

1/24/10

ROBERT GATES AS DEFENSE SECRETARY HAS PROVIDED CONTINUITY FROM BUSH TO OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: CONTINUOUS HOSTILITY, THAT IS. Gates has been the lightning rod for Pakistani anger against U.S. during both administrations. In his recent trip to the country he encountered this hostility, focussed on continued CIA drone raids on supposed terrorist targets, creating problems for the Pakistani government that provoke one official to demand of him, "whose side are you on?"

1/23/10

LAST WEEK THE TALIBAN WAS AN "INSIDIOUS CANCER" THAT NEEDED ELIMINATION; THIS WEEK IT'S PART OF THE "POLITICAL FABRIC" OF AFGHANISTAN. Jason Ditz notes that this shift in rhetoric employed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates may indicate a shift in the Obama administration from "defeating" the Taliban and toward support of Hamid Karzai's plan to buy them off, weaving them into Afghanistan's "fabric."

1/18/10

AFGHAN GOVERNMENT WILL UNVEIL A NEW PLAN TO END CONFLICT THERE BY "CONCILIATION" WITH THE TALIBAN INSURGENCY. Hamid Karzai and his spokesmen speak of enhanced plans to lure Taliban fighters by promises of education, jobs and security from retaliation from the insurgency. This is ahead of an upcoming London conference on the Afghan situation. U.S. special diplomatic envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke expresses left-handed approval of the new plan, comparing it to previous ones and saying it "can't be worse."

1/14/10

11 Iraqis are sentenced to death for planning and executing truck bombings that killed 95 in Baghdad last August.

1/13/10

NATO ON KILLING OF 13 CIVILIANS IN HELMAND PROVINCE AFGHANISTAN: WE DIDN'T DO IT---WE DID IT BECAUSE.... A day after a raid on a supposed Taliban hangout, villagers gathered to protest the raid and, according to them, NATO forces fired on the unarmed crowd. NATO denies the incident but they and the local police offer (contested) explanations of the event that didn't occur: that an armed sniper was the target of their assault, that the Taliban was "provoking" the crowd into acts of violence like turning over cars.

1/12/10

WAR FORGOT TO TAKE A VACATION THIS WINTER IN AFGHANISTAN. In years past, combatant forces in the country adjusted to the harsh winters from December to March by reducing their military operations. This year, with Taliban increasing its hold on more parts of the country, both insurgent and NATO forces continue to launch attacks against one another as both sides seek to "make a point" about the durability of their position in the country.

1/4/10

AFGHANISTAN: "WITHOUT A FUNCTIONING GOVERNMENT" OR A "VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY?" The country's elected parliament rejects most of the cabinet appointees of President Hamid Karzai, bringing governmental agencies there to a standstill. The signficiance of this development to the conflict in Afghanistan is yet to be determined, but it doesn't bode well for the "stability" of the country, a criterion for U.S. withdrawal of its military forces.

1/3/10

"TELL ME HOW THIS ENDS." CONVENTIONAL AND COUNTER-INSURGENCY WARS. Conventional wars had their conventional conclusions: when the soldiers and other resources of one side were exhausted, when a "defeated" side laid down its arms and its Generals surrendered. In the "counter-insurgency" style of war now being pursued in Afghanistan, defeating the enemy as an end point gets displaced by the goal of a stable government, non-corrupt and responsible to the needs of Afghan people. It might require the talents of a Jane Addams rather than that of a George Patton to end this conflict, but at last observation General McChrystal bore little resemblance to a community organizer, and there is no "coherent narrative" of how a counter-insurgency ends.

1/1/10

Prosecutorial misconduct leads judge to dismiss charges against Blackwater security employees accused in massacre of 17 Iraqi civilians

1/1/10

Suicide bomb which killed 7 CIA employees at a forward operating base in Afghanistan was the control center for launching drone attacks on insurgent targets along border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

12/30/09

THE TALIBAN HAS A GOVERNMENT-IN-WAITING IN AFGHANISTAN; AND THEY MAY NOT HAVE TO WAIT THAT LONG. Unidentified senior U.S. intelligence agent tells McClatchy Newspaper reporters that there are "shadow" governors in place in 33 of the nation's 34 provinces, ready to take over when and if Hamid Karzai's government fails. This failure seems ever more likely with drastic escalation of improvised explosive device attacks, as IEDs are described as the current equivalent to the surface-to-air missiles by means of which the mujahedeen brought down Soviet helicopters, leading to the Soviet internment in the "graveyard of empires."

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