Afghanistan war – News Stories About Afghanistan war - Page 39

OPINION

Dec 3, 2009 1:24 AM CST

'Goldilocks' Strategy Wins Prez Time

Adopting centrist position is a gamble

(Newser) - President Obama's Afghanistan speech represented a brave foray into the middle ground of American politics, where those who venture tend to get crushed, writes EJ Dionne. His "Goldilocks strategy—neither too hawkish nor too dovish, but just right"—has split his party while failing to win any credit...

NATO Will
Send 5,000* More Troops
to Afghanistan

Dec 2, 2009 4:54 PM CST

NATO Will Send 5,000* More Troops to Afghanistan

*But only if you use creative counting

(Newser) - NATO's chief said today that the alliance will be more than happy to fulfill President Obama's request to send another 5,000 troops to Afghanistan. "And probably a few thousand on top of that," asserted Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "This is our fight together." The problem, says...

Gates: Afghan Failure
Means 'Civil War'

Dec 2, 2009 2:12 PM CST

Gates: Afghan Failure Means 'Civil War'

Troop surge is necessary to transition to humanitarian role

(Newser) - Defense chief Robert Gates and other members of the Obama administration took to Capitol Hill today to sell President Obama's plan to send 30,000 additional troops. "Failure in Afghanistan would mean a Taliban takeover of much, if not most, of the country and likely a renewed civil war,...

Taliban: Obama Will
See 'Lots of Coffins'

Dec 2, 2009 1:18 PM CST

Taliban: Obama Will See 'Lots of Coffins'

Insurgents vow to fight against US surge

(Newser) - The Taliban defiantly vowed to fight back against the US troop surge, with a spokesman saying it will “provoke stronger resistance” from the group. “Obama will witness lots of coffins heading to America from Afghanistan,” a spokesman tells the BBC . “Their hope to control Afghanistan by...

Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns

Analysis

Dec 2, 2009 10:44 AM CST

Obama Takes Fight to Pashtuns

New strategy will result in immediate spike in battles

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s new strategy will result in an immediate spike in combat clashes, as the US directly advances on the ethnic Pashtuns in eastern and southern Afghanistan. The first wave of reinforcements is already moving, reports David Wood in Politics Daily, with marines expected to begin landing in the...

Musharraf: Don't Abandon Afghanistan Again

OPINION

Dec 2, 2009 10:20 AM CST

Musharraf: Don't Abandon Afghanistan Again

Time limits won't work, says former Pakistan leader

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf comes out of retirement with an op ed piece today, arguing that a time limit on American involvement in Afghanistan is repeating the mistakes that put the country in the hands of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. A political strategy needs to be found that will stabilize the country...

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies

Dexter Filkins

Dec 2, 2009 8:49 AM CST

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies

Surge relies on corrupt Karzai government, poorly-trained military

(Newser) - By announcing an 18-month timetable, Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet for an Afghan government and military that have so far proven unreliable. Hamid Karzai’s government is considered among the world’s most corrupt, but Obama seems to be betting that the withdrawal timetable will encourage it to...

Pundits Split on Obama's
'Churchill Moment'

afghanistan speech

Dec 2, 2009 7:51 AM CST

Pundits Split on Obama's 'Churchill Moment'

Some find president's resolve unconvincing

(Newser) - President Obama staked his presidency on the Afghanistan war last night, but pundits are widely split on how convincingly he made the case for escalation.

This was no George W. Bush on an aircraft carrier, writes Matthew Cooper in the Atlantic. This was a community organizer turned war president,"

...

Pakistan Escalation on the Hush-Hush

ANALYSIS

Dec 2, 2009 3:58 AM CST

Pakistan Escalation on the Hush-Hush

Obama quietly striving to step up CIA campaign

(Newser) - President Obama aims to step up operations in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, but he won't be making any speeches about it. The president has quietly authorized an expansion of the CIA campaign against militants but he's still trying to get the green light from the "weak, divided, suspicious"...

Left, Right Assail Obama Plan

AFGHANISTAN SPEECH REACTION

Dec 1, 2009 9:25 PM CST

Left, Right Assail Obama Plan

GOP faults timetable; Dems fault surge itself

(Newser) - There was a bipartisan show of unity after President Obama’s speech tonight on Afghanistan—though hardly the unity Obama was looking for, as negative reaction echoed from his leftmost supporters to his rightmost critics. The 30,000-troop buildup irked Democrats, the Wall Street Journal reports, despite Obama pairing that...

Speech, Afghan Reality
Don't Quite Match

ANALYSIS

Dec 1, 2009 8:16 PM CST

Speech, Afghan Reality Don't Quite Match

Allies may not help; Afghan troops ineffective even if trained

(Newser) - President Obama’s speech tonight “raised expectations that may be hard to meet,” AP analysts Calvin Woodward and Robert Burns write, citing conditions in Afghanistan that don’t match Obama’s rhetoric:

US allies will add troops: In fact, this has always been a tough sell, and even

...

Obama to Send
30K Troops;
Home By 2011

AFGHANISTAN SPEECH

Dec 1, 2009 7:55 PM CST

Obama to Send 30K Troops; Home By 2011

President explains US troop surge at West Point

(Newser) - Saying that “Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards,” President Obama explained his decision tonight to send 30,000 more US troops there. Speaking at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, he told the cadets in the audience, “I owe...

US Will Begin Withdrawing Troops in July 2011

Dec 1, 2009 3:09 PM CST

US Will Begin Withdrawing Troops in July 2011

President will discuss Afghan timetable in speech tonight

(Newser) - President Obama plans to begin withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan in July 2011, senior administration officials say. Obama will sketch out the timetable tonight when he announces plans to send an additional 30,000 troops to the country over the next 6 months, report the New York Times and the...

Obama Sounding
a Lot Like Bush

GLENN GREENWALD

Dec 1, 2009 1:55 PM CST

Obama Sounding a Lot Like Bush

Rationale for troop surge is the same that Bush used for Iraq

(Newser) - Glenn Greenwald finds the rationale for the Afghan troop surge President Obama will announce tonight to be "remarkably similar" to that used by George W. Bush when he argued for more troops in Iraq in 2007. The speech hasn’t been given yet, but the administration has been leaking...

Obama Wants Afghan War
Over in 3 Years

Dec 1, 2009 12:41 PM CST

Obama Wants Afghan War Over in 3 Years

He wants all new troops on the ground within 6 months

(Newser) - President Obama wants the war effort in Afghanistan wrapped up in 3 years and most US troops home by then, senior officials tell CNN . He also wants to speed up deployment of the 30,000 or so additional troops he's sending, with the first Marines expected to be on the...

Next Hurdle for Afghan Surge: Paying for It

Dec 1, 2009 9:16 AM CST

Next Hurdle for Afghan Surge: Paying for It

Dems don't want to pony up for Obama's plan

(Newser) - Getting Congress to fund Barack Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy might be as arduous a process as the strategic review that devised it. Democrats, cold to the idea of sending more troops, don’t want to foot the bill; some are proposing a war tax to cover it. “If...

Obama Talks Afghan
Strategy With Karzai

Dec 1, 2009 9:09 AM CST

Obama Talks Afghan Strategy With Karzai

Morning videoconference pleased Afghan president, sources say

(Newser) - President Obama spent an hour on the phone with Hamid Karzi this morning to discuss the new US policy for Afghanistan, a spokesman for the presidential palace reports. A close confidant of Karzai's who was with the Afghan president following the call said Karzai was happy with the videoconference conversation...

Troop Surge Number? 34K

AFGHAN strategy

Dec 1, 2009 7:36 AM CST

Troop Surge Number? 34K

With NATO troops, total close to McChrystal request

(Newser) - The Washington Post has—or thinks it has—the much anticipated number of troops President Obama will deploy to Afghanistan, and it's 34,000. That, combined with 5,000 he's said to be seeking from NATO allies, brings the total within shooting distance of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,...

Obama's Afghan Plan Won't Please Anybody

DAVID BROOKS

Dec 1, 2009 6:32 AM CST

Obama's Afghan Plan Won't Please Anybody

Which means that the president may have gotten it right

(Newser) - President Obama has assembled parts of different Afghanistan strategies into a whole that looks certain to displease just about everybody when it is unveiled tonight, writes David Brooks. The administration appears to have pulled back from its earlier enthusiasm for a comprehensive counterinsurgency—COIN—plan in favor of COIN-lite, Brooks...

Levin: No
Afghan War if
We'd Caught
bin Laden

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP

Nov 29, 2009 1:11 PM CST

Levin: No Afghan War if We'd Caught bin Laden

Senators hit talk shows to talk Afghanistan

(Newser) - Had the US not missed its chance to nab Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2001, there's a “good chance we would not have forces or need to have forces there," Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin told Face the Nation. Given the current situation, however, Politico...