Will our renewed effort in Afghanistan and Pakistan keep us safe, can we leave a more stable situation in our wake, and can we really pull out in 18 months if we've made little progress?
Posted 12.03.2009 | Impact
President Obama's announcement of increased deployments in Afghanistan was sure to elicit strong opinions from around the country. Though all American...
Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 12.02.2009 | Politics
As with Vietnam, the problem in Afghanistan is political, not military. The United States can stay there forever if we want to -- but is it worth it?
Barton Kunstler, Ph.D. | Posted 12.01.2009 | Politics
Many of Obama's supporters are trying to figure out why he keeps pursuing policies we thought we were voting against. I can't figure it out, but I've come up with some possible explanations.
Wall Street Journal | YOCHI J. DREAZEN and MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS | Posted 11.30.2009 | Politics
The Obama administration has soured on a call from its top commander to double the size of the Afghan police and army, reflecting the White House's co...
Jim Wallis | Posted 11.20.2009 | World
Already, thousands of our readers have signed a letter and contacted the White House urging a new way forward in Afghanistan. I encourage you to read it and to endorse this message if you have not done so already.
Jim Wallis | Posted 11.16.2009 | World
Development and humanitarian assistance can no longer be an afterthought; they must be central to any strategy the U.S. government puts forward in Afghanistan.
McClatchy | Jonathan S. Landay | Posted 11.07.2009 | World
President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it unti...
Wall Street Journal | By YOCHI J. DREAZEN | Posted 11.03.2009 | World
The Army's top generals worry that surging tens of thousands more troops into Afghanistan could increase the strain felt by many military personnel af...
Doug Bandow | Posted 11.03.2009 | World
He should not ask, is Afghanistan winnable? Rather, the right question is what should the U.S. attempt to achieve?
Jim Wallis | Posted 10.29.2009 | World
When you massively intervene in a country as much as the U.S. has in Afghanistan, you can't responsibly just walk away. We must lead with what works -- development.
Kristof | Nicholas | Posted 10.22.2009 | Politics
The United States was born of our ancestors' nationalistic resentment of a foreign power whose troops we saw as occupiers, not protectors. The British...
Columbia Journalism Review | Tara McKelvey | Posted 11.13.2009 | Media
Thomas E. Ricks has a photograph of a general--Ulysses S. Grant, looking haggard and defeated in Cold Harbor, Virginia--on the wall of his office. His...
Jon Soltz | Posted 08.06.2009 | World
It's time to start putting pressure on the Iraqi government to settle their internal differences, and make clear that we're no longer going to be their crutch. This weekend, Biden did just that.
Chris Weigant | Posted 07.30.2009 | World
If our soldiers are out of Iraqi cities, and the Iraqi security forces start shouldering more and more responsibility as a result, do we really need all 130,000 troops sitting in their bases?
Chris Weigant | Posted 06.13.2009 | World
America pulling combat forces out of Iraqi cities is going to have multiple effects within the country. At this point, nobody can accurately predict what those effects are going to be with 100 percent reliability.
William Bradley | Posted 06.13.2009 | World
The move from McKiernan to McChrystal also seems to signify an end to nation-building fantasies in Afghanistan.
Dave Astor | Posted 05.13.2009 | Comedy
Given that most newspapers still don't publish weekday comics in color, my mistake was putting today's cartoon guests in the green room rather than the black-and-white room.
Jeremy Scahill | Posted 05.11.2009 | World
The most powerful Navy in the world remains in a standoff with four pirates in a small boat. So threatening to US national security are these pirates, Gen. Petraeus is now running the operation.
Ben Cohen | Posted 04.29.2009 | World
While Obama will seek to build an international consensus around his plans, the fact is that the war will become another endless pit that will consume more and more money that no one actually has.
HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 04.16.2009 | Politics
Via Taegan Goddard comes the news of a new poll conducted by ABC/BBC/NHK, with the current, on-the-ground opinions of Iraqis. Goddard pulls the juicy...
ZP Heller | Posted 04.09.2009 | World
2008 was the bloodiest year of this war to date, though it looks like 2009 will be much worse -- and not simply because our country is committing so many more troops.
AP | JASON STRAZIUSO | Posted 03.19.2009 | World
LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Close to 3,000 American soldiers who recently arrived in Afghanistan to secure two violent provinces near Kabul ha...
Brandon Friedman | Posted 03.01.2009 | World
If we're going to win back the Afghans' support, then we need to show them that we can protect them from the Taliban -- something that will clearly take more troops -- both U.S. and Afghan.
Washingtonpost.com | By Karen DeYoung | Posted 02.14.2009 | World
President-elect Barack Obama intends to sign off on Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, but the incoming administrati...
Madeleine M. Kunin | Posted 12.03.2009 | Politics