Obama Sticks to His Guns
What About Afghan Women?
Ben Smith notes a striking omission from Obama's speech tonight: Although Obama spoke about America's dedication to human rights generally, there was no mention of the terrible plight of Afghan women specifically. Curiously, however, his March 27 AfPak speech did include such a reference: READ MORE >>
Obama: No Dithering
A key assertion in tonight's speech, thus far un-voiced by the White House: Let me be clear: there has never been an option before me that called for troop deployments before 2010, so there has been no delay or denial of resources necessary for the conduct of the war. READ MORE >>
In a conference call, the White House clarifies what those reports about a three year time line were about. Although the phrase three years doesn't appear anywhere in Obama's speech, he will set July 2011 as the date when NATO forces will start handing over the lead of combat operations to Afghan force, and apparently begin to bring U.S. forces back home. READ MORE >>
Mysteries of the AfPak Strategy, Chapt I
NYT: READ MORE >>
MoveOn vs. Obama
Via ABC's Rick Klein, the powerful grassroots liberal group is coming out against Obama's proposed Afghanistan escalation: After talking to MoveOn members about this possibility for months, it's become clear what most of us think: This is wrong. Everyone knows that George W. Bush left a mess in Afghanistan, but escalation only deepens our involvement in a quagmire. READ MORE >>
Three Years and Out of Afghanistan [Update: Not]
In light of the somewhat vague new report that Obama will set a three-year time line for withdrawal from Afghanistan I just posted this as an update to my earlier preview of Obama's Afghanistan speech: READ MORE >>
Three Big Questions About Obama's Afghanistan Plan
A few thoughts in advance of the big speech--which I will be writing about tonight--based on the details now coming into focus. READ MORE >>
How Many Foreign Ministers Did *You* Speak to on Thanksgiving?
From today's State Department press briefing: QUESTION: Regarding what you just said, the French newspaper Le Monde reports that the Secretary has called her counterpart Kouchner and asked for France to send 1,500 additional troops to Afghanistan. Do you have any comment on that? MR. KELLY: She did speak to the French foreign minister. This was on Thanksgiving. In fact, she spoke to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten foreign ministers on Thanksgiving. Hope she got some rest over the weekend.... READ MORE >>
Realism in Afghanistan
Ben Smith posted a good piece over the holiday weekend about the uber-realism that has dominated recent American thinking about Afghanistan. Prior to the Iraq fiasco, there was much self-congratulation in Washington about how we had liberated women and struck a blow for enlightened western values. But the Bush era drove such notions into the dirt, and now we can expect Barack Obama to make his case for escalating in Afghanistan almost purely on national security grounds. READ MORE >>
