it was slightly disconcerting to hear Richard Holbrooke, our very best diplomatic negotiator, deploying words like "extraordinary" and "unprecedented" to describe the recent round of talks with delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington, during a White House briefing for columnists just after the talks ended. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
Indeed, neither President is exactly a paragon of statesmanship. The reality in Afghanistan and Pakistan is that both governments have been unable to provide the most basic ... More »
Joe Klein seems to be a great fan of Richard Holbrooke, but he fails to question to totally US-centric thinking that pervades the repositioning Obama is engaging in, regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan. Klein should have mentioned that the presidents of both countries were consulting with Iranian counterinsurgency experts in Tehran, soon after their meeting in Washington. Klein also fails to mention that Russia and Iran have more at risk, in Afghanistan, than does the US. Holbrooke's claim that another 9/11 would be the possible outcome of a failure to "win" in Afghanistan, is unsupported.
Iran is an indispensible party to any successful scheme to lower the level of violence in Afghanistan. The Israel lobby, and Israel itself, try to block the rapprochement between Iran and the US that would benefit the Middle East and Central Asia. US military activities in Afghanistan seem to be making things worse, not better.
It gives the ordinary reader insights into the talks that are not mentioned on Cable News or or most daily newspapers.
Bush's neglect of Afghanistan and Pakistan and his failed and incompetent decision to prioritize the wrong battlefield in Iraq and let our real enemies Al Qaeda and the Taliban re-group, re-arm, and recruit, in the tribal areas is the real reason AfPak is such a threat to our security today. No article written about this should fail to mention this. The failure of the media and the failure of the Democrats and the unprecedented cowardice of the Republican cheerleaders that accepted ... More »
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