Afghanistan Seeks US Help Post-2014
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "Afghanistan on Wednesday appealed for the United States to provide security assistance beyond 2014, the date by which President Barack Obama wants to withdraw US combat troops. Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak was holding talks at the Pentagon to look at future relations, despite recent tensions between the two governments over civilian deaths in the NATO-led campaign against the Taliban. 'We do strongly believe that for Afghanistan...
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The Challenge of Reconstructing "Failed" States
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "While international aid has significantly increased its support for the reconstruction of fragile countries and 'failed' states emerging from severe crises or civil war, we begin today to realize that the disaster in Afghanistan is largely due to mistakes made by the Western coalition, and in particular, to the disorganization of its development support efforts in this country. In this uncompromising article, Serge Michailof undertakes...
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Afghanistan's Elections Stalemate
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "The prolonged crisis over Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections has further undermined President Hamid Karzai’s credibility. He is now even more isolated politically than he was after his dubious re-election in 2009. The Wolesi Jirga was inaugurated on 26 January 2011, following a lengthy standoff that exposed sharp political fault lines, which could plunge the country deeper into not just political but armed conflict. Clashes...
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US Pulls Back from "Vital" Afghan Valley in Kunar
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "After years of fighting for control of a prominent valley in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the United States military has begun to pull back most of its forces from ground it once insisted was central to the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The withdrawal from the Pech Valley, a remote region in Kunar Province, formally began on Feb. 15. The military projects that it will last about two months, part of a shift of...
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Afghanistan and the Uncertain Metrics of Progress: Report
25 February 2011
EXCERPT: "This first report in this series ef highlights some of the metrics that reflect a consistent failure to properly resource the Afghan campaign, and to react to the growth of the Taliban, the Al Qa’ida sanctuary in Pakistan, and the failures of the Afghan government turned near victory into near defeat. These failures were driven in part by the lack of unity and realism in ISAF, an ineffective UN effort, a US focus on the Iraq War,...
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