This Wall Street Journal story by Siobhan Gorman details the influential position of a CIA chief inside of the Karzai administration in Kabul. The piece is worthwhile reading for its insight into the Obama administration’s Afghan teams layout and method for working with the at times, volatile, President Karzai. President Obama’s administration’s relationship with Karzai has seen […]
Here are a few observations from Michael Hasting’s Rolling Stone article Obama-McChrystal seemed to be on same page in terms of actual Afghanistan war strategy/policy – This has been an underreported aspect of the whole incident. McChrystal and his aides were mainly critiquing (if ‘bite me’ is a critique) the political process and not the […]
There have been growing signals, some blatant, that the Obama administration is looking for a way out of Afghanistan, even as they are still in the process of deciding on a new strategy, which is likely to involve the deployment of thousands more American and NATO troops. It of course is prudent for the US […]
These are heady days for both Afghan and American citizens. Ballots continue to be counted and contested in Afghanistan’s 2nd presidential election, with Karzai in the lead, but not quite with the 50% he needs, and with Americans hearing in Gen. McChrystal’s recent assessment, a likely future request for more US troops and resources. How […]
It’s hard to believe, but the people of Afghanistan will go to the polls in just over three weeks to choose their next president. Though the incumbent Hamid Karzai is the clear favorite, but his return to the state’s head office is not assured as challengers Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani have gone on the […]
President Obama has officially named Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry as his choice to be the US ambassador to Afghanistan. Eikenberry, a career military man, was the top US commander in Afghanistan until 2007. Though some are concerned about giving such a key diplomatic spot to a military leader, I feel this is an excellent choice. […]