Counterintuitive counterinsurgency

Los Angeles Times by Richard Fontaine, John Nagl | Oct. 15, 2009 (Opinion)

As the Obama administration debates whether to stick with the counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan, opponents point to that nation's flawed presidential election as a reason why this approach cannot work. Counterinsurgency is premised, they argue, on the presence of a legitimate national government that can win allegiance from local populations. Given credible allegations of rampant abuse in Afghanistan's August election, President Hamid Karzai's ... Full Story »

Posted by Derek Hawkins - via NewsRack (Afghanistan), Memeorandum

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Subjects: World, U.S., Politics
Topics: War, Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, Presidential Election 2008, Obama Administration
Member Tags: Presidential Election:dupe
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Posted by: Posted by Derek Hawkins - Oct 12, 2009 - 2:32 AM PDT
Reviewed by: Derek Hawkins (review), James Canning (review)
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Derek Hawkins - Oct 16, 2009 - 9:36 AM PDT
Related Comments: Afghanistan (5) | Obama Administration (3)

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Derek Hawkins
3.5
 by Derek Hawkins - Oct. 16, 2009
Derek posted this story.
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James Canning
2.8
 by James Canning - Oct. 16, 2009

Major flaw in this piece is the author's assumption the "surge" in Iraq was both a good move by the US and a success; in fact, both assumptions appear to be false.

Prolonging the US military presence in Iraq, rather than making deals with Syria and Iran, was a colossal blunder by G W Bush, wasting hundreds of billions of US taxpayer dollars and denying the US the opportunities normal relations with Syria and Iran would have provided. No stability in Afghanistan will be achieved without substantial help from Iran.

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  • The Afghanistan Impasse

    The New York Review of Books by Ahmed Rashid | Oct. 15, 2009 (Opinion)
    Pakistan's safe havens for the Afghan Taliban have been to a large extent responsible for their revival and growing dominance across Afghanistan and for the rising death toll ...
    Posted by Derek Hawkins
    4.3
     See Reviews »

  • How the Afghanistan Presidential Election Was Rigged

    Time by Peter W. Galbraith | Oct. 16, 2009 (Opinion)
    No one will ever know how Afghans voted in their country's presidential elections on Aug. 20, 2009. Seven weeks after the polling, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints ...
    Posted by Derek Hawkins
    3.7
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