The Af-Pak Train Wreck

When President Barack Obama laid out his plan for winning the war in Afghanistan, behind him stood an army of ghosts: Greeks, Mongols, Buddhists, British, and Russians, all whom had almost the same illusions as the current resident of the Oval Office about Central...

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Reading the Af-Pak Tea Leaves

It's tough to tell what's going to happen with Af-Pak. We get so many conflicting reports. For a time, we heard that President Obama was leaning toward sending 30,000 additional troops there, and that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...

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Stop, Look, Listen

We hear daily reports that President Obama has made this or that decision about how many more troops to send to the Afghan front; the numbers vary. This Reuters report headlines "four options" the president is considering, but then names only three: sending...

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Gen. McChrystal’s Celebrity Weekend

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama's choice for commander in what he has renamed the AfPak theater, in what no longer is called the Global War on Terror, has been trying, with the help of Democratic as well as Republican hawks, to bounce President Obama...

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Generals Open New Front in Washington

The Pentagon's preemptive strike came with the leak of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's confidential review of the Afghan war to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. McChrystal's painting of the military picture was grim. "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent...

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