In Afghanistan, We Fight and Die, China Wins

Al-Qaeda, Taliban much closer than public has been led to believe

(NEWSER) - US military and intelligence officials see dangerous misrepresentations in the Obama team’s flirting with a limited, anti-al-Qaeda strategy in Afghanistan. “The White House is downplaying the dangers of doing the only thing that they think Congress and the public will support,” an official tells McClatchy. But taking the focus off of the Taliban may make al-Qaeda stronger as the two groups are even closer now than in 2001. More»

(NEWSER) - The US could double the number of its troops in Afghanistan to about 60,000 by next summer, the highest such estimate to date, Reuters reports. American troops currently number 31,000, but joint chiefs chairman Mike Mullen said today that an additional 20,000 to 30,000 will be needed by the spring or early summer. “We're going to fill that requirement so it's not a matter of if, but when," he said. More»

Doesn't US remember how our country began? Or how Vietnam ended?

(NEWSER) - The United States was born from a nationalist insurgency. “Given that history, you’d think we might be more sensitive to nationalism abroad,” writes Nicholas Kristof. “Yet the most systematic foreign-policy mistake we Americans have made in the post-World War II period has been to underestimate its potency.” It was true in Vietnam, in Latin America—and now in Afghanistan. More»

Whether Taliban will facilitate or shun terror group is up in the air

(NEWSER) - The principal rationale for the original US invasion of Afghanistan was the elimination of an al-Qaeda safe haven. Almost a decade later, the terrorist group is much diminished there, as well as in Pakistan, prompting serious second thoughts within the administration about ramping up forces in the region. Aides to special envoy Richard Holbrooke suggest that though the Taliban is resurgent, should they gain control again they would not ally with the terrorist group. More»

The Agni V has 3,100-mile range

(NEWSER) - India's missiles are already capable of hitting Pakistan—today the country will learn if it has the ability to strike deep into another rival. India will this afternoon launch an intercontinental ballistic missile called the Agni V. If successful, the nuclear-capable missile's 3,100-mile range would put Beijing and Shanghai within reach, reports the Wall Street Journal , and would, according to a security expert, narrow "the missile gap between India and China" and "potentially free up other short- and intermediate-range missiles for use against Pakistan." More»