Foreign Policy

The Whack-a-Mole Endgame Begins in Afghanistan

Cap Ferrat, France

President Obama’s surge and de-surge strategy in Afghanistan has landed the United States in a strategic cul-de-sac. As America withdraws troops from remote areas of Afghanistan like the Tangi, Korangar, and Pech Valleys, insurgents are flooding back in to wreak havoc, necessitating US retaliatory raids, …

“Why Can’t NATO Whup Libya?”

As NATO’s war against Libya nears its sixth-month anniversary, there’s one question that keeps churning over and over again in what passes for my mind: why can’t the most powerful military alliance in history topple a third-rate army? I discuss the topic with John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security, Paul Hughes, a …

A Military Teetering on the “Ragged Edge”

House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman J. Randy Forbes (R-VA) held a hearing on the state of the military this week. The conclusion is stark: the U.S. military is at a breaking point. Today. Right now.

None of America’s armed forces can meet all of the global demands placed on them by commanders today. Were an …

$56 Billion to Rebuild Afghanistan (So Far): The Whole Kit & Kabul-Dole

Remember how you doled out allowances to your kids, trying to teach them the value of a quarter before moving on to a dollar? (OK — I was cheap.) Check out this chart from a Thursday report from the Government Accountability Office: direct payments to Afghanistan from Washington more than tripled between 2009 and 2010 with …

The $30 Billion Rebel

Given last week’s decision by Washington to recognize the Libyan rebels as that nation’s legitimate government — and giving them access to at least some of the $30 billion in Libyan government funds in U.S. banks — makes you wonder: just who are these folks? Dan Murphy of the Christian Science Monitor writes up the six weeks he …

Pakistanis, Indians, and the U.S. Taxpayer

Pakistan, you may have heard, is finding it challenging to battle the friendly (to them) Taliban forces on its soil that only cross into Afghanistan to kill U.S. troops (the Pakistanis have no compunction about killing the other Taliban — those trying to topple the government in Islamabad). So it was interesting to see the …

DEFCON 1: Incoming Numbers!

Washington is a Milky Way of numbers right now, all swirling around in a galaxy of confusion involving taxes, debt and interest rates.

Here are some other numbers that folks reading Battleland should know: $1 trillion out of $9 trillion, 48%, and 15 out of 22 nations surveyed:

Vietnam’s Ghosts: Still Alive in the U.S. Government

There is really nothing new in the war game, as Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama by the father-daughter team of Marvin and Deborah Kalb makes clear. It could hardly be more timely, as America and its leaders grapple with the challenges posed by Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya – all at once. The …

A Kandahar Killing: What Does It Mean for the U.S. Military Mission?

A huge power vacuum has opened in southern Afghanistan with the assassination on July 12 of Ahmed Wali Karzai, a half brother of President Hamid Karzai and, fundamentally, the godfather of Kandahar. U.S. officials are debating whether he will be followed by a more benign tribal autocrat or someone alleged to be just as bad — and …

Inscrutable Advice from the Middle Kingdom: Wise or Wicked?

The pressure to reduce U.S. defense spending took a hit Monday when China’s top military officer suggested Washington is spending too much on its military in light of its economic problems at home. “I know the U.S. is still recovering from the financial crisis,” Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, …

U.S. Turns Down Cash Spigot to Pakistan

The White House said Sunday that it has put on hold $800 million in military aid to Pakistan given Islamabad’s continuing shaky response to the terrorism in its midst. “Until we get through these difficulties,” White House chief of staff William Daley told ABC, “we will hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have …

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