The Myth of the Anbar Awakening, Afghan Remix
The New York Times reports on an isolated incident in Afghanistan where, fed up with the Taliban closing their schools and committing other acts of oppression, men in a village about 100 miles south of...
View ArticleNew Book to Note: The Raptor’s Eye
John Stanton‘s reputation as a truth-teller/trouble-maker (depending on your politics) is solid. His new book, The Raptor’s Eye, JIEDDO, MISO, General P and The Prophet Smith: Reports from Washington,...
View ArticleSad SIGAR Saga in Afghanistan
As the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) shuts down in what can only be thought of as a mercy killing, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) continues...
View ArticleLaSalle Students Get An Insider’s View of Iraq’s Reconstruction
LaSalle University in Philadelphia was kind enough to host me last week as part of their continuing series of “Diplomats in Residence.” The CBS affiliate in Philly wrote a nice story on my talk to the...
View ArticleWhy Being So Right Feels So Bad
Gentle readers, allow me a moment of angry self-congratulation. I’ll be back to normal with the next posting. This article originally appeared on Foreign Policy. I was right. When they print the next...
View ArticleHow to Be an Afghanistan Expert
My mom always forwards me the worst email crap, multi-megabyte Powerpoints of cats, or babies doing something odd, or homilies to life last century and the like. I usually thus delete most FWD’ed...
View ArticleDoing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails
I had the pleasure of speaking yesterday at George Mason University alongside Christopher Coyne. Chris is the author of an excellent new book, Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails....
View ArticleReview: Coyne’s “Doing Bad by Doing Good, Why Humanitarian Action Fails”
(This review first appeared on the Huffington Post) If Christopher Coyne’s new book, Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Failsneeded a subtitle, I’d be willing to offer up “We Meant Well,...
View ArticleRay Odierno: Living in the Third Person about Iraq
General Ray Odierno lives in the third person regarding Iraq. “Mistakes were made” for sure, but not by him, even when he was in charge. Somehow the mistakes happened temporally on his watch, but by...
View ArticleShooting Ourselves in the Foot in Afghanistan
Did you know the U.S. war in Afghanistan is still going on? While the American war(s) in Iraq and Syria are the Kardashian’s of geopolitics– can’t get them out of the news, don’t want to look but you...
View ArticleYour Most Gigantic Waste of Taxpayer Money Today List, Afghan Edition
Our good friends at the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released a high-risk list for the Afghanistan reconstruction effort that calls attention to areas that are especially...
View ArticleLet’s Waste $1.3 billion on the Afghan Police!
A big part of the U.S. plan to “win” in Afghanistan after only 13 years of effort rests on the Afghan National Police (ANP). Alongside the Afghan Army (RIP), the police are supposed to hunt down the...
View ArticlePentagon Sends Afghans on Months-Long Gem Training Junkets
America, think carefully about what you would want your tax money spent on: Schools? Roads? Public bong stations? Hah, it doesn’t matter because your tax money was spent on this crap. A Pentagon task...
View ArticleU.S. Says Details of Aid to Afghan Army Now a Secret, from Americans at Least
The U.S. military decided it will no longer release facts and figures about America’s costly effort to assist Afghan security forces. (As this goes online, the military has announced, having been...
View ArticleWho’s to Blame for Losing Afghanistan?
Who should we blame for losing Afghanistan? Why blame anyone? Did anyone expect the U.S. war in Afghanistan to end cleanly? If so, you bought the lies all along and the cold water now is hitting...
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