Afghanistan Archive

The success or failure of President Barack Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy will depend on numerous international factors, from the contributions of Washington’s NATO allies to the performance of Afghanistan’s beleaguered government. However, few factors loom larger than Pakistan. Indeed, the Obama administration has conceded that unless Islamabad intensifies its efforts against Taliban and al-Qaida forces based in Pakistan, the Afghanistan plan will likely fail. Predictably, the U.S. government has renewed pressure on Pakistan to launch a more aggressive campaign against militancy within its borders. However, Washington has little credibility and leverage in Pakistan, and Pakistani mistrust of the United States […]

British conservative leader David Cameron clashes with Prime MinisterGordon Brown over troop commitment in Afghanistan. Cameron asked Brownpointedly when he expected there to be a decrease in British troops inAfghanistan. Brown responded by saying that he expected the balance ofcoalition forces and Afghan forces to shift in 2011.

President Barack Obama offered a well-articulated if somewhat hazy vision last night of his plans to stabilize the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. The core idea is to increase foreign support for the Afghan government and security forces in order to allow them to develop the capacity to improve governance and confront the Taliban insurgency more independently. The basic problem with implementing this strategy is that the Afghan government and security forces continue to experience numerous difficulties. In addition, the administration’s other sought-after foreign partners are either leaving the field of battle or refusing to enter it. In order for […]

In a nutshell, President Barack Obama delivered a very effective — if imperfect — speech last night, outlining in appropriate detail the reasons for both the war’s ongoing significance and the announced troop increase, the overall objectives and approach, and to a lesser degree the regional context. Most importantly, he embedded the entire discussion into a compelling vision of balancing America’s national security interests with its broader national interests, while placing both in the context of America’s enduring yet changing global role. By appropriate detail, I mean that there wasn’t much, but that’s not what this speech was about. As […]

Despite including what’s expected to be an enormous troop increase — one tied to a dialed-in strategic and tactical approach and accompanied by “exit ramps” — President Barack Obama’s speech tonight outlining his new Afghanistan war plan is widely expected to leave everyone, both war supporters and opponents, at least partially disappointed. As the pre-speech chatter would have it, there are not enough troops or commitment for the former camp, and not enough firm conditionality for the latter. That’s quite a contrast with the initial strategy rollout back in March, which managed to satisfy almost everyone, and represents the delayed […]