After a couple weeks of poor news regarding Afghani security, there was finally some positive developments as a force of Afghan troops supported by NATO armored vehicles and helicopters appeared to rout Taliban forces who recently took over the Arghandab region surrounding Kandahar. A NATO official called it a ‘fast and effective’ response. However, the exact extent of the mission and its accomplishments still appeared a little murky as there are claims that the Taliban presence was exaggerated and it was unknown how many of there forces escaped capture.
The New York Times editorial board took a glance at Afghanistan's situation and did not like what they saw, calling for NATO allies to ‘beef up their forces,’ heavily criticizing Bush's attention to the war (too harsh in my opinion), and demanding answers from the two presidential candidates as to how they would handle the situation. I, myself, have only heard Obama chastise Bush's policy and McCain voice his overall support of the effort, nothing about what they would do differently to help this strategic, yet dangerous nation.
I will have no comments at the moment, but please take a look at some of these news conference statements from US Assistant Secretary of State for South and central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher and a USAID official:
1. “Briefing on the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan“
2. “Special Briefing on the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan“
3. “Pakistan/Afghanistan – US Relations“
Not to be outdone, the FPA held a great event last week titled “Afghanistan: Problems and Approaches” featuring former Deputy Assistant Secretary and Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann. A video of the event is embedded on our website, check it out!
[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-4647462261076633206" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]
(Photo: Foreign Policy Association)
