Afghanistan

More IEDs, More Dead Civilians — ISAF’s 2011? Pretty Great Year

by Dan Smock

Some days I worry that I’m suffering from sleep apnea. Which, in turn, is causing me to lose oxygen to my brain. Which, in turn, is causing me to not fully comprehend what I read, particularly on the interwebs. Because, that, friends, is one of the few logical explanations for what I read today: Last year [...]

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The Great Iran Hype, by Seth Jones

by Joshua Foust

Seth Jones thinks we need to think about al Qaeda in Iran. Virtually unnoticed, since late 2001, Iran has held some of al Qaeda’s most senior leaders. Several of these operatives, such as Yasin al-Suri, an al Qaeda facilitator, have moved recruits and money from the Middle East to central al Qaeda in Pakistan. Others, such [...]

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Talking Politics in Afghanistan

by Joshua Foust

On Tuesday, I had the unexpected pleasure of sitting on a panel with Michael O’Hanlon and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul McHale to talk about the future of American strategy in Afghanistan. That’s the video of the event. In case you don’t want to sit through 90 minutes of jabbering, I’m pasting my comments [...]

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Crusaders, Vietnam, Whatever: Inside the Thomas Johnson Afghanistan Kaleidoscope

by Joshua Foust

My favorite ABD Professor of Afghanistan things of all time — seen here making things up, comparing the Taliban to Irish people or maybe Native Americans, and talking very ignorantly about Vietnam — is back. The Vietnam thing continues in his latest article, co-written with eternal collaborator M Chris Mason, for the AfPak Channel. “Our [...]

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Can You Tell Me How to Get to 2014? (Part 4 of 4)

by Dan Smock

This is the last in a four-part series where I hate on Big Bird. Not really, but see Part 1 here if you’re just now joining us. Sesame Street has made its way to Afghanistan, it’s called Bagch-e-SimSim, and it’s the perfect example to illustrate at a micro level what’s wrong with the reconstruction and [...]

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Can You Tell Me How to Get to 2014 (part 3 of 4)

by Dan Smock

This is the third in a four-part series where I hate on Big Bird. Not really, but see Part 1 here if you’re just now joining us. Sesame Street has made its way to Afghanistan, it’s called Bagch-e-SimSim, and it’s the perfect example to illustrate at a micro level what’s wrong with the reconstruction and [...]

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Guest Post: Why is the Afghan government being excluded from Qatar?

by Joshua Foust

By Grey Maggiano   Much has been made of the recent announcement that the U.S. and the Taliban may begin negotiations through a Taliban proxy office in Qatar, but one question raised by the Taliban’s public statement has gone largely unaddressed: Was the exclusion of the Afghan Government from any potential negotiations intentional? And if [...]

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Talking the Taliban Office

by Joshua Foust

I was on WNYC’s The Takeaway this morning talking about the politics of the Taliban opening a political office in Qatar. On Tuesday, after months of denying it was interested in participating in formal talks to end the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban indicated it would consider opening a political office in Qatar. A political [...]

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SACEUR Inspires Me: Wherein I Repeat Myself

by Dan Smock

I Blame Foust So I’ve been on vacation for a little while, and the urge to do anything rather than document another lap around the drain that is 2014 was pretty much overpowering. And I do mean anything. You should see my socks. They have never been so organized. This also means I’ve been avoiding things [...]

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A Pretty Shocking Act of Optimism

by Joshua Foust

Charles Kenny thinks Afghanistan has never been better: Nonetheless, the answer to “was it worth it” is yes. For all the waste, corruption, and death, Afghanistan is a much better place to live than it was 10 years ago, and the international community can take a considerable part of the credit for that. This is [...]

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Boycotting Bonn: Why It Will Fail

by Joshua Foust

I wrote a piece for The Atlantic about why Pakistan’s boycott has turned an already iffy conference at Bonn into a complete farce: But the Bonn II conference has met with significant hurdles. Besides Pakistan, Afghanistan’s largest neighbor, no one seems to know if Afghanistan’s other major neighbor, Iran, will participate (I spoke with officials [...]

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