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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: counterinsurgency

counterinsurgency stories: 11 news summaries
Charles Krauthammer

Time to Act Presidential on Afghanistan

After 'yearlong drift,' Obama can't keep passing buck to Bush

Oct 30, 09 11:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama loves to blame things on George W. Bush, and on Monday he did it again, referring to the “long years of drift in Afghanistan.” He must be trying to “explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan,” writes Charles Krauthammer . In March, Obama... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Bush administration • Barack Obama • Iraq war • George W. Bush • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • President Obama • Charles Krauthammer • counterinsurgency

OPINION

Karzai's Government
Too Rotten to Back

Sending more troops won't work if they're protecting a tainted government

Oct 14, 09 1:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - No counterinsurgency campaign can succeed without a good government to work with, and Hamid Karzai's operation is nowhere near good enough, writes Thomas L. Friedman. Karzai's government is thoroughly corrupt and his election victory deeply tainted, Friedman notes in the New York Times. Much of the insurgency is now fueled... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Taliban • Hamid Karzai • corruption • disputed election • Afghanistan war • counterinsurgency • Afghanistan election

(Newser) - With US casualties mounting in Afghanistan, some members of Congress are questioning recent orders that have put troops at greater risk in order to protect Afghan civilians, the Washington Post reports. Gen. Stanley McChrystal recently berated the military for being “preoccupied with protection of our own forces.”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • civilian casualties • Susan Collins • airstrike • Afghanistan war • counterinsurgency • Stanley McChrystal

Afghan war rethink


 Biden Plan 
 Would Target 
 al-Qaeda, 
 not Taliban 

No consensus has emerged in White House war room

Sep 23, 09 7:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Obama administration’s national security heavyweights have yet to reach any kind of consensus on a strategy for Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. Obama is considering both increasing troop levels to carry out his original counterinsurgency strategy, and an alternative plan from Joe Biden that would pull... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Joe Biden • counterterrorism • Afghanistan war • Obama administration • counterinsurgency • Afghanistan election

 McChrystal: 
 US 'Will Fail' 
 Without More 
 Afghan Troops 

Blunt warnings bared in secret Pentagon report

Sep 21, 09 3:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - Afghanistan's top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal made a blunt request for more troops in a confidential report to the Pentagon last month, warning that without more forces the war "will likely result in failure." The 66-page report, obtained by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, contains repeated... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • International Security Assistance Force • troop levels • NATO troops • Afghanistan war • counterinsurgency • Stanley McChrystal

(Newser) - The scrapping of the F-22 has sent the US Air Force into an abrupt about-face, Time reports. Newly installed officials are asking for 100 cheap, multirole planes that can attack ground positions and also be used to train other countries' pilots in their use. The aircraft must have a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Robert Gates • Department of Defense • defense secretary • US Air Force • Iraq war • Afghanistan war • F-22 fighter jet • counterinsurgency • prop plane • Michael Donley

(Newser) - Guerrilla warfare is not, historically, a nice business. One Guatemalan general once described it as a protection racket, according to Christopher Dickey of Newsweek. You send a clear message: “We can protect you from the guerrillas, but the guerrillas cannot protect you from us—and you’ve got... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • guerrilla • counterinsurgency

(Newser) - US Marines today launched a major offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan that will serve as the first big test of a new American strategy, reports the Washington Post. About 4,000 Marines descended on villages and towns in the remote Helmand province. Their goal, however, isn't to wage war... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Taliban • US military • Marines • counterinsurgency

New US Afghanistan Chief: Convince, Don't Kill

Sketches strategy to mix troops with population

Jun 12, 09 9:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - The new US commander in Afghanistan says his experiences there and in Iraq have changed his perspective on an effective counterinsurgency: “You're going to have to convince people, not kill them,” Gen. Stanley McChrystal tells the Wall Street Journal. “Since 9/11, I have watched as America tried... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • military strategy • US military • Afghanistan war • counterinsurgency • Stanley McChrystal

 US Bolsters Command 
 in Afghanistan 

Gates deploying top brass as part of structural overhaul of Afghan campaign

May 8, 09 6:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to dispatch three-star general David M. Rodriguez to Kabul to shore up military leadership, the Wall Street Journal reports.  Military officials say the move—along with the creation of a new task force—is aimed at ensuring "the Pentagon is on a war... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Robert Gates • US military • David McKiernan • counterinsurgency • David M. Rodriguez

OPINION

Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say


Mar 19, 09 7:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan must roundly reject the so-called “minimalist” approach being whispered about in DC, write John McCain and Joe Lieberman in today’s Washington Post. The minimalists want the US to focus on limited, “realistic” counterterrorism goals. But McCain and Lieberman remind Obama... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • War on Terror • Barack Obama • John McCain • military strategy • Joe Lieberman • counter insurgency • Afghanistan war • counterinsurgency

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