Obama Declares Afghanistan 'Precarious and Urgent'

Hamid Karzai is in Pakistan today to discuss negotiations

(NEWSER) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Pakistan today, one day after telling the Wall Street Journal that his country has entered into three-way peace talks with the Taliban and the US. Karzai is in Pakistan to discuss the negotiations and request that country's help; Islamabad's cooperation is necessary, since Taliban fighters have reportedly been receiving support from Pakistan, the New York Times notes. The recent talks signal a breakthrough, considering the Taliban has up until now insisted it would not negotiate with Karzai's "puppet regime." More»

Troop withdrawal could lead to instability, some fear

(NEWSER) - Political leaders in Afghanistan are concerned that President Obama's decision to start withdrawing US forces could lead to a repeat of the US withdrawal in 1989, when Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was allowed to gain major influence. "We don't want to go back 20 years when [ISI was] making the decisions about Afghanistan," one mayor tells the Wall Street Journal . Adding to the concern is the fact that billions of dollars in aid cuts will likely accompany the withdrawal, Reuters reports. For his part, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared supportive of Obama's speech. More»

(NEWSER) - George Will’s call today to pull US troops out of Afghanistan is tantamount to “urging retreat and accepting defeat,” fellow conservative William Kristol blogs in the Washington Post. Will’s idea to focus mostly on offshore operations and airstrikes "doesn't sound much more engaged than US Afghan policy in the 1990s,” Kristol writes. “Will would have to explain why it would work better this time.” More»

Ambassador to Afghanistan feared kidnapped near border

(NEWSER) - Pakistani officials are hunting for their ambassador to neighboring Afghanistan, and the country's president believes he was abducted, Reuters reports. "The Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan has been kidnapped while traveling to Afghanistan," Hamid Karzai said. The diplomat went missing yesterday while traveling through the Khyber Pass, a region notorious for its smugglers and bandits. More»

Miscalculated and under-emphasized the country time and again

(NEWSER) - Critical misjudgments and a consistent refusal to commit resources undermined what appeared to be a US triumph in routing the Taliban in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports in a detailed analysis of how the "good war" seems to have gone bad. From Donald Rumsfeld’s early rebuff of international forces to the shift of manpower, equipment and leadership to Iraq, “it was a duct tape approach,” says a former Karzai aide. More»