Afghanistan
Sinking Fast
The Bizarre, Strategically Bankrupt Evolution of the Parties’ Views on Defense Spending
The Obama administration has managed to upend the laws of ornithology. The simple fact of a Democratic commander-in-chief has transformed yesterday’s Republican hawks into today’s doves. No less miraculously, and certainly for no more high-minded reasons, Democratic doves have metamorphosed into something like hawks. READ MORE >>
Debt Ceiling Hostage Update
The Obama administration has been expressing supreme confidence that it will get an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. That confidence seems hard to square with what Republicans are saying. They're expressing strong resistance to cutting defense: READ MORE >>
As the date for a long-promised drawdown in Afghanistan nears, debate is swirling. Many Democrats are urging a significant withdrawal, while most Republicans and U.S. military leaders warn that doing so will endanger recent gains. Outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has cautioned that the United States “shouldn’t let up on the gas too much.” “We’ve made a lot of headway,” he said during a recent visit to Afghanistan, “but we have a ways to go.” READ MORE >>
Afghanistan Dispatch: When Compassion Is a Luxury
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan—The petitioners arrive at dawn and climb the dirt path in silence. Men with arms missing. Veiled women with artificial limbs. Children with faces drawn and prematurely old solemnly leading blind relatives by the hand. Their grim procession staggers toward the provincial office of the Ministry of the Disabled and Martyrs to solicit an annual disability stipend of $120. READ MORE >>
Afghanistan Dispatch: The Toll
Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan—Behold the latest toll of war from Forty Meters Street. READ MORE >>
Afghanistan Dispatch: On Patrol
Andkhoi, Afghanistan—The changing of the guard in Faryab province takes place in sinister mimicry of the desert’s perpetual diurnal rhythm. In the brief and hazy dusk, police officers patrolling the rutted roads and villages of thirsty apricot groves pile into green pickup trucks and go home. In their place, on motorcycles, in cars, and on foot, the Taliban take charge, until morning. READ MORE >>
