With the mid term elections over, Afghanistan is once more in the news headlines. Over the weekend Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai gave an interview to the Washington Post criticizing the NATO war strategy. Karzai stated: “we’d like the Afghan countryside…not to be so overwhelmed with the military presence…you can have the U.S. presence in the […]
Been spending a lot of time blogging about Afghanistan, thought it was time to look at what’s happening in Iraq. The impetus for me was press reports of increasing numbers of insurgent attacks against Iraqi citizens and the continued inability of Iraq to set up a functioning government in the aftermath of the March elections. […]
There has been a lot of media coverage addressing fighting in Kandahar, possible peace talks with the Taliban but very little on the stabilty operation parts of the COIN strategy. As mentioned in my last Blog, I recently participated in several Afghanistan themed Department of Defense Bloggers roundtables. Topics covered during the roundtables were training […]
Been silent the last couple of weeks because of bouts with a sinus infection and bronchitis. I did get out of bed a few times to participate in some Department of Defense sponsored bloggers roundtables on Afghanistan. More about that later and kudos to the Department of Defense for providing the venue. If there is […]
Last week I participated in a Department of Defense sponsored Bloggers roundtable. The occasion was the announcement of the first graduating class of the female Officer Candidate Course (OCS) for the Afghan Army. There were 29 graduates of the 20 week course and they will join the nearly 300 women already serving in the Afghan […]
–>Just wanted to pass on a heads up I received from PBS about a program being aired on their network this evening at 10 PM (www.pbs.org/pov/tvschedule). It’s THE OATH by Laura Poitras. Film synopsis: Filmed in Yemen and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, The Oath interweaves the stories of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, […]
The military has a process called “Lessons Learned”. Basically after the conduct of a major operation, be it an exercise or real world conflict, you study what worked and what didn’t. The purpose of the process is to constantly improve the way you do business by documenting what worked and what didn’t work. The hope […]
Been on travel so haven’t found time to Blog. Before I hit the road, I participated in a Department of Defense sponsored Bloggers roundtable on Monday, August 23rd with Lieutenant General William Caldwell the Commander of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. It was enlightening and informative. As discussed in previous Blogs, this training is a critical […]
Reports of continuing misery caused by the flooding tragedy continue to come out of Pakistan. The flooding has affected one fifth of that nation, killed 1,600 and is affecting as many as 20 million people. According to a BBC report, “Tens of thousands of villages remain underwater and there are warnings the crisis may worsen […]
Yesterday the New York Times published an article titled U.S. Military Seeks Slower Pace to Wrap Up Afghan Role. The opening paragraph stated: “American military officials are building a case to minimize the planned withdrawal of some troops from Afghanistan starting next summer, in an effort to counter growing pressure on President Obama from inside […]
On August 2, 2010 the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced they would hold a joint cooperative air defense exercise with the Russian Federation Air Force (http://www.norad.mil/News/2010/080210.html). This is the first ever air defense exercise between Russia and NORAD and will include U.S., Canadian, and Russian participants operating from command centers at Elmendorf Air […]
This is the second blog I’m writing on insights gained during my participation in a series of three bloggers roundtables sponsored by the Department of Defense. On July 21, 2010, I had the opportunity to interview Capt A. Heather Coyne the Community and NGO liaison officer for NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. The job is a […]
Last week I had the opportunity to participate in three separate Bloggers roundtables on Afghanistan sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD). The roundtables were a forum designed to provide access to key officials involved in NATO’s training of Afghan Police and Army forces. Participating via a teleconferences from Afghanistan were Dr. Jack Kem, deputy […]
It’s been a tough few days for the U.S. Intelligence community. Last week the Washington Post ran a series called “Top Secret America” and this week the media is filled with stories of 92,000 classified documents released by some web site. The documents cover events in Afghanistan from 2004 – 2009. I’ve blogged before about […]
Relations between North and South Korea (ROK) continue to simmer in the aftermath of the sinking of the South Korean warship, Chenoan, in which 46 sailors lost their lives. This week during a visit to South Korea, Secretary of State Clinton announced new sanctions against North Korea targeted at sale and purchase of arms and […]