Troop Moral Plummets amid Highest Rates of Mental Health Problems in Five Years: Report
20 May 2011
As fighting and casualties in Afghanistan's war reached an all-time high, U.S. soldiers and Marines there reported plunging morale and the highest rates of mental health problems in five years. The grim statistics in a new Army report released Thursday dramatize the psychological cost of a military campaign that U.S. commanders and officials say has reversed the momentum of the Taliban insurgency. Military doctors said the findings from a battlefield...
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Transitioning to Afghan-Led Counterinsurgency: Congressional Testimony
20 May 2011
The death of Osama bin Laden and the upcoming tenth anniversary of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan have triggered several important policy issues. This testimony poses several questions. What should the U.S. objectives be in Afghanistan? Based on these objectives, what are America’s military options (and what would the implications be for transition)? Finally, what are the political options, including the possibility of a peace settlement?...
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Diplomatic Surge Cannot Yet Produce a Regional Solution in Afghanistan: Brief
20 May 2011
Although meaningful cooperation in the region surrounding Afghanistan is of vital importance, it has been elusive because Afghanistan's key neighbors have significantly divergent aims. Engineering a successful regional solution would require the United States to fundamentally transform either these actors objectives or their dominant strategies. Achieving the latter may prove more feasible, most crucially vis-a-vis Pakistan. The region's history...
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Bundeswehr Admits German Soldiers "Deliberately Fired" on Demonstrators
20 May 2011
Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, has released new and explosive details about a violent altercation between demonstrators and German soldiers in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday that left 12 dead and dozens wounded, including two German soldiers. In a statement posted on its website Friday morning, the military contradicted its earlier claims and admitted that German soldier had deliberately fired upon the demonstrators. The Bundeswehr also said...
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Surge of Taliban Defectors Outstrips Resources for Reintegration
20 May 2011
The flow of Taliban defectors has reached the point at which demand for the official Afghan reintegration program is outstripping resources available to protect them and provide them with jobs. The number of Taliban fighters who had joined the program stood at 1740, but an additional 2000 had applied, Major-General Phil Jones, the British director of NATO's reintegration cell in Kabul, said yesterday. The combined figure represents about 15 per cent...
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