An Afghan policeman auditions for the role of Estragon
By Steve Hynd
Even those of us who oppose any kind of McChrystal Plan for troop escalation in Afghanistan are getting a bit antsy waiting for Godot Obama to make his mind up. I realise that its a complex set of issues [...]
By Steve Hynd
There's been a substantial change in Obama administration rhetoric in the last week or two, which has only accelerated after Gen. Eikenberry put his spanner in the escalationists' works. Hillary Clinton, talking to ABC News this Sunday, gives the clearest indication yet that the administration is looking' [...]
By Steve Hynd
Just as it seemed that all was hunky for the escalationists, US ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry has stuck his oar in the works. Both the NY Times and the Washington Post have the leaked story of secret cables from Eikenberry to the White House:
expressing deep [...]
By Steve Hynd
In a new interview with German mag Der Spiegel out today, Obama's National Security Adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, is sounding skeptical about the McChrystal escalation request for extra troops in Afghanistan. He says, dismissively, that "generals always ask for more troops".
SPIEGEL: The Obama administration is reviewing [...]
By Steve Hynd
The Seminal at Firedoglake is asking for everyone's help in keeping Derrick Crowe, their Afghanistan Fellow, writing his excellent posts.
Derrick has been writing regularly on the war, bringing to bear facts, video testimony, statistics, political insight, and thoughtful arguments to drive home [...]
By Steve Hynd
The Center for American Progress, which has been broadly supportive of the occupation of Afghanistan - and further escalation there - until now, has a very useful page of profiles on the coterie of US-friendly warlords and narcolords who are now running that country.
The following profiles represent [...]
By Steve Hynd
One of the big debates generated by the Obama administration's deliberations over whether or not to send extra troops to Afghanistan has been the exact nature of the relationship between the various Taliban factions and Al Qaeda's leadership. Escalation advocates have argued that the relationship is strong and [...]
By Steve Hynd
It looks like the neo-whatever interventionist crowd might wait a long while for their troop escalation.
The White House has said that it will take no decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan until it determines the new government is a "true partner".
White House Chief of Staff Rahm [...]
