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White House Mulls Grim Picture of 'Deteriorating Stalemate' in Afghanistan
By David Wood - Politics DailyThe assessments now pouring into the White House from Afghanistan run the gamut from discouraging to awful, as the Obama administration finishes up its long-awaited December review of the war strategy the president announced a year ago. In many ways, the cold facts charting the grim course of the war belie the upbeat views that the perpetually confident Gen. David Petraeus, the war's top commander, has expressed in public. President Obama didn't get much of a first-hand look at the war during his brief stopover at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan Friday. He briefly conferred with his top ...
Length of Afghan War Headed for Record Books
By Paul Wachter - AOL News(Nov. 11) -- So much for troop withdrawal deadlines. "The Obama administration is increasingly emphasizing the idea that the United States will have forces in Afghanistan until at least the end of 2014, a change in tone aimed at persuading the Afghans and the Taliban that there will be no significant American troop withdrawals next summer," The New York Times reported on Wednesday. That date is still four years away, but taking the administration at its word (even though that word just changed), that means the Afghan war, which in October entered its 10th year of world's superpower vs. ...
Is Iran the Winner of the War in Iraq?
By Sarah Wildman - Politics DailyAs Barack Obama appeared on television Tuesday to declare the end of the U.S. combat role in Iraq, were viewers happiest in Baghdad, Washington, D.C., or Tehran? The obvious answer would seem to be Washington or Baghdad. In fact, some analysts believe the real winner of the war in Iraq is neither the Iraqis, nor Americans, but the Iranians. It's a sobering analysis, especially in light of the United Nations-imposed and U.S.-backed sanctions against Iran, intended to to influence the country's intractable position on its nuclear capability. Mohammad Bazzi, adjunct senior fellow for Middle East ...
President Obama's New 'Thank You' Video to Troops Comes Under Fire
By Carl Franzen - AOL News(Aug. 27) -- Consider it a pre-emptive strike: Today, just four days before the official end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, President Barack Obama released on YouTube a short video of himself thanking the troops. Many presidents past have taken it upon themselves to thank the soldiers for their service using soaring rhetoric and lofty praise, and so in that sense, Obama is no different. But there remains one big problem with his expression of gratitude, at least so far as some right-leaning pundits see it: Not only could it be confused with a hawkish endorsement of the war effort he ...
Karzai Slams US Pullout Plan for Afghanistan
By Terence Neilan - AOL News(Aug. 27) -- President Hamid Karzai has strongly criticized the U.S. plan to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by July, saying it will give the Taliban "a morale boost." He told four visiting U.S. congressmen Thursday that setting a pullout date would make the Taliban believe they could simply hold out until the U.S. and its NATO allies had left. Karzai also said more should be done to shut down Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan, saying the war could not be won as long as insurgents could seek refuge there. In a statement from his office, according to various media reports, Karzai ...
Robert Gates to Retire in 2011: Three Dilemmas He Leaves Behind
By Katie Drummond - AOL News(Aug. 16) -- Robert Gates, the U.S. defense secretary since 2006 and a key player in shaping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hopes to retire from his post sometime in 2011. That's the most immediately attention-grabbing detail revealed over at Foreign Policy, in a profile that recounts Gates' unlikely decision to stay on following the end of President George W. Bush's tenure in the White House. "I really didn't want to be asked," he told Foreign Policy. "[But] if I were asked, I would say, 'Yes.' In the middle of two wars, kids out there getting hurt and dying, there was no way that I was ...
Defense Secretary: McChrystal Report Won't Request More Troops in Afghanistan
By Ria Misra - Politics DailyGen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, is set to submit an assessment on the war within the next few weeks. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at least one thing would be missing from the report: contrary to widespread speculation, the general won't include in it a request for more troops. The Los Angeles Times reports that Gates said requests for additional troops would be considered both "separately and subsequent" to the upcoming report. Just this week, Anthony Cordesmon, who recently served as an adviser to McChrystal on Afghanistan, published an op-ed ...
Tours Get Shorter as Iraq Improves
By Mark Impomeni - Politics DailyPresident Bush, in a rare 8 AM statement, announced that effective tomorrow, combat tours for all new units deployed to Iraq will be shortened to twelve months from the current 15 months. The president cited the continuing improvements in the security situation in Iraq as a reason for the change, noting that violence in July was at its lowest levels in more than four years.This has been a month of encouraging news from Iraq. Violence is down to its lowest level since the spring of 2004, and we're now in our third consecutive month with reduced violence levels holding steady. General Petraeus ...
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