Counterinsurgency

Security Pact Ensures America's Presence in Afghanistan

Malou Innocent | Posted 05.01.2012

Read More: Al Qaeda, Counterterrorism, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Taliban, Hamid Karzai, Osama Bin Laden, Counterinsurgency, Nation-Building, Politics News
Malou Innocent

President Obama's arrival in Afghanistan and signing of the strategic partnership agreement with President Karzai supposedly represents yet another corner turned in our nearly eleven year (and counting) war.

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'The American Homeland Is the Planet'

Malou Innocent | Posted 04.17.2012

Read More: Homeland Security, War on Terror, Safe Havens, Afghanistan, Counterterrorism, Terrorism, War, Counterinsurgency, Al Qaeda, Politics News
Malou Innocent

Wars are incredibly wasteful and counterproductive to the goal of stopping terrorism. Unfortunately, U.S. officials remain hostage to the outdated notion that a specific territory matters -- they remain possessed by a sort of safe haven syndrome.

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Troops Out, Now What?

American Anthropological Association | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Iraqi Refugees, Iraq War, Iraq Veterans, Support the Troops, Global War on Terror, Afghanistan, US Troop Withdrawal, Ptsd, Counterinsurgency, Iraq War Veterans, College News
American Anthropological Association

Militarism in the U.S. seems to have a gravitational force pulling a wide array of resources and sectors into its orbit. Our involvement with Iraq serves as a case study for how deeply rooted militarism is in American culture and political life.

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In Afghanistan, the Dam Breaks

Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Civilian Deaths, Rethink Afghanistan, Civilian Casualties, Afghanistan War, Brave New Founation, Afghanistan, Robert Greenwald, War in Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, Koran Burnings, World News
Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe

The war for hearts and minds is over. It's lost in Afghanistan, and it's lost at home. The president and Congress should do us all a favor and stop letting people get killed for it, and get our people out of there.

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The Situation in Afghanistan Gets Worse

Jon Soltz | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Counterterrorism, Afghanistan, Immunity, Counterinsurgency, US Troops Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, US Troops, Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal, Quran Burning, Politics News
Jon Soltz

President Obama has a lot of issues to weigh with regards to Afghanistan, but I really hope he sides with the American troops on the ground. They're now being asked by our government to provide security to a population in a mission that is no longer wanted by the democratically elected leader of that country, making their current mission untenable and unproductive. Therefore, the only conclusion he can come to is to engage U.S. forces in a mission that can be successful. And that is an immediate transition to an Advise, Train, and Assist role, on the way towards a negotiated counter-terror mission with a very limited footprint.

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Time to End Counter-Insurgency In Afghanistan

Jon Soltz | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Military, Counterterrorism, Afghanistan Surge, Afghanistan, President Obama, Atrocities, Taliban, Counterinsurgency, Afghanistan War, World News
Jon Soltz

The counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan has failed, and it is time for President Obama to abandon it. In the wake of the horrific incident where a US soldier killed 16 innocent Afghans, and just weeks after American Marines were caught on tape desecrating the body of a dead enemy, and a pile of Korans were burned, that much is clear. It is time to employ a mission in Afghanistan that actually works, and leave a residual force in the region that focuses on destroying real threats to America. The sooner President Obama announces that, the better off our military and America will be.

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Calling It Quits in Afghanistan

Malou Innocent | Posted 04.28.2012

Read More: Islam, Nato, Coin, Counterterrorism, Afghanistan, Military Spending, Isaf, Counterinsurgency, Koran, Quran, World News
Malou Innocent

How many more American soldiers and innocent Afghan civilians have to die before the Obama administration withdraws from Afghanistan?

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Romney Comes Out for Endless War in Afghanistan

Jon Soltz | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: GI Bill, Iraq War, Counterterrorism, Afghanistan Surge, Afghanistan, Veterans Care, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney, Counterinsurgency, Veterans, Afghanistan War, Politics News
Jon Soltz

Mitt Romney just made it clear: While the president will begin to transition us out of Afghanistan, a President Mitt Romney would keep us there in an open-ended commitment.

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Video of Marine Atrocities Highlights Split Between Right Wing and Our Military

Jon Soltz | Posted 03.13.2012

Read More: Marines, Military, Afghanistan, Pamela Geller, David Petraeus, Stanley McChrystal, Guantanamo, Detainee Abuse, Allen West, Military Law, Counterinsurgency, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan War, World News
Jon Soltz

There are no words to express my disgust at the video making the rounds today, of U.S. Marines apparently urinating on the dead bodies of the Taliban.

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A Passage to Kabul

Franz-Stefan Gady | Posted 02.04.2012

Read More: Hamid Karzai, US Military, Isaf, Afghanistan, British Raj, European Union, US Foreign Policy, Imperialism, E.M. Forster, Counterinsurgency, Obama Afghanistan War, World News
Franz-Stefan Gady

A recent reading of E. M. Forster's novel, A Passage to India, prompted me to reflect on the West's drawn out engagement in Afghanistan. The centerpi...

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Christina Wilkie

Former CIA Director's Death Raises Questions, Divides Family

HuffingtonPost.com | Christina Wilkie | Posted 12.05.2011

Read More: Central Intelligence Agency, Donald Rumsfeld, Al Qaeda, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Carl Colby, Soldiers, Video, Cia, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, William Colby, Nato, Vietnam War, Phoenix Program, Counterinsurgency, Armchair Detective, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- A new film on the life and death of master spy and former CIA director William E. Colby, created by his son, raises the question of whet...

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Making the Relationship Work: PSC and the Military

David Isenberg | Posted 01.17.2012

Read More: Iraq, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Counterinsurgency, Private Security Contractors, Politics News
David Isenberg

The PSC/PMC industry desperately needs the equivalent of the Center Army for Lessons Learned so that all firms can take advantage of the lessons, many of them dearly earned at the price of blood, limbs, and lives of numerous contractors, learned from their operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

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De-radicalizing The Pakistani Taliban

Shehzad H. Qazi | Posted 12.04.2011

Read More: Islam, Taliban De-Radicalization, Pakistan, De-Radicalization, Swat Valley, Pakistani Militants, Pakistani Taliban, Taliban, Al Qaeda, Insurgency, Counterinsurgency, Religion News
Shehzad H. Qazi

Putting captured militants through systemized de-radicalization and rehabilitation programs is a necessary tactic in the counterinsurgency in Pakistan.

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COIN Classic, New COIN, Post-Modern COIN

Michael Brenner | Posted 10.03.2011

Read More: Iraq War, Coin, Iraq, Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, David Petraeus, Afghanistan War, World News
Michael Brenner

Exactly what is COIN? Simply put, it is the theory and practice of suppressing insurgencies that mix violent and non-violence methods to topple existing governments and to seize power. Indeed, COIN is a growth industry.

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Why We Shouldn't Push for a Pakistani Offensive in North Waziristan

Michael Kugelman | Posted 08.24.2011

Read More: Taliban, Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, Pakistan, Foreign Policy, Waziristan, World News
Michael Kugelman

A Pakistani operation in North Waziristan may well make the job of U.S. forces in Afghanistan easier. However, it also would imperil critical U.S. interests in Pakistan that far outweigh those in Afghanistan.

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David Wood

After A Decade, Gen. Petraeus' Counterinsurgency Strategy Is Deemed A Failure

HuffingtonPost.com | David Wood | Posted 08.22.2011

Read More: Coin, Obama Afghanistan Speech, Petraeus, Afghansitan Troops, Afghan War Strategy, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Iraq, Counterinsurgency, Obama Afghanistan War, World News

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan signals the beginning of the end for the ambitious counterinsurgen...

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Senate Report Slams Nation-Building Efforts in Afghanistan

Malou Innocent | Posted 08.08.2011

Read More: Foreign Aid, Afghan Government, Economic Development, Military Contractors, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Development Aid, State Department, Taliban, Afghanistan, Nation Building, Bonn Agreement, Counterterrorism, Defense Department, Counterinsurgency, Usaid, Afghanistan Contractors, Afghanistan Nation Building, Afghanistan Senate Report, World News
Malou Innocent

Given the corruption and dependency we'll leave in our wake, without an introspective self-critique our policies, America could turn Afghanistan into Central Asia's Haiti.

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The New Face of War

Conn Hallinan | Posted 08.07.2011

Read More: New Warfare, Counterterrorism, Counterinsurgency, Osama Bin Laden, Petraeus Doctrine, Powell Doctrine, Osama Bin Laden Dead, Rumsfeld Doctrine, Politics News
Conn Hallinan

The assassination of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden did more than knock off U.S. public enemy number one. It formalized a new kind of warfare, where sovereignty is irrelevant, armies tangential and decisions are secret.

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The Carnage Continues in Afghanistan

Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe | Posted 07.18.2011

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Afghansitan, Rethink Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, Riot, Uprising, Counterinsurgency, Brave New Foundation, Taloqan, World News
Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe

A quiet city in the north of Afghanistan ignited today after yet another NATO night raid reportedly tore another family apart. Thousands of people took to the streets, again chanting, "Death to America!" as they pelted Karzai's billboards with mud and stones.

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Pentagon to White House, American People on Afghanistan: Take a Hike

Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe | Posted 07.10.2011

Read More: Petraeus, Pentagon, Rethink Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, Taliban, Afghanistan, Obama, Counterinsurgency, Afghanistan War, Brave New Foundation, World News
Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe

The Pentagon is working the press again, this time in support of a so-called withdrawal plan that would break a promise made to the American people by their president.

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Don't Let Bin Laden Have the Last Laugh. Get Our Troops and Our Tax Dollars Home.

Derrick Crowe | Posted 07.04.2011

Read More: Afghanistan, Rethink Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, Osama Bin Laden, Brave New Foundation, World News
Derrick Crowe

Osama bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan in any significant numbers. Bin Laden's death obliterates the last plausible excuse for keeping troops in Afghanistan any longer. It's time to bring the troops home.

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Petraeus, McCain Continue Afghanistan War Spin, But No One Buys It (Nor Should They)

Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Insurgency, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Civilian Casualties, Propaganda, Taliban, Spin, Afghanistan, Congress, Mccain, Counterinsurgency, Brave New Foundation, World News
Derrick Crowe

General Petraeus and McCain can try to spin the situation in Afghanistan all they want, but the fact is that their counterinsurgency gamble failed, and the American people want our troops out, pronto.

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Petraeus Is Focusing on the Wrong Body Count in Afghanistan

Michael Hughes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Nato, Coin, Civilian Casualties, War, Isaf, United Nations, David Petraeus, Petraeus, Taliban, Insurgents, Afghanistan, General Petraeus, Counterinsurgency, World News
Michael Hughes

Instead of focusing on metrics that matter, U.S. officials have decided to trumpet enemy body count. Apparently, the number of dead insurgents, not civilians, is now the barometer for determining the campaign's efficacy.

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Pentagon Assertions of "Progress" In Afghanistan Are a Bad Joke

Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Targeted Killings, Civilian Deaths, Gates, Petraeus, Pentagon, Coin, Propaganda, Obama, Troop Increase, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Civilian Casualties, Escalation, Spin, Taliban, Insurgents, Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, Politics News
Derrick Crowe

The latest Petraeus/Gates media tour is under way in preparation for the general's testimony to Congress next week, and they're trotting out the same, tired spin they've been using since McChrystal was replaced in disgrace last year.

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Reagan-Era Defense Official Proposes Failed Vietnam Strategy for Afghanistan

Michael Hughes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Kabul, Islam, World News, Petraeus, Coin, World, War Strategy, Obama, Karzai, Home, Mujahideen, Bing West, Islamic Radicals, Haqqani, Taliban, Frontpage, Afghanistan, Afpak, Counterinsurgency, Impact, World News
Michael Hughes

Bing West's archaic solutions are highly unlikely to show anyone how to get out of Afghanistan; however, they do have quite the potential to pave a road to perpetual war.

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