Afghanistan Weekly Reader May 20, 2011: A Bull in the China Shop and a Skunk at the Party
Questioning the dominant narrative of the war in Afghanistan can be an unpleasant exercise. For those who work in close proximity to the institutions driving war policy, criticizing the notion that victory lies just around the corner can mean the loss of access, influence, and even one’s paycheck. But then, as this week’s news of ongoing night raids, civilian casualties, violent protests, and duplicitous allies showed, unquestioned loyalty to the status quo has yielded little that is pleasant after a decade of fighting.
Which is why the bright spots this week were provided by those who are shaking things up and raising a stink. Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) referred to himself as a “skunk in the party” during the “48-hour sales pitch” that was his recent trip to Afghanistan. By asking the tough questions, Rep. Murphy came to the conclusion that with the current strategy, “We are taking one step forward while taking two steps back.” Similarly, the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, was described as a “bull in a china shop” by his colleagues, but his forcefulness in arguing against military escalation was constrained by his position within the Obama administration. Thankfully, there are others carrying on Holbrooke’s legacy by challenging the current counterproductive strategy and calling for total commitment to finding a political solution for the war in Afghanistan.
FROM THE ASG BLOG
5-18-11
Two days with Felix Kuehn
Afghanistan Study Group by Edward Kenney
Felix Kuehn, a Kandahar-based researcher, came to Washington DC last week to discuss the state of the insurgency and the ties between al Qaeda and the Taliban. You may recall that Kuehn co-authored with his colleague Alex Strick van Linschoten, a paper examining the history of the al Qaeda-Taliban connection in February. (Here is ASG’s take). It’s obviously very difficult to summarize in a few paragraphs the wealth of insights that Kuehn provides but here are some of the key points
5/20/11
Afghanistan’s Road to Ruin: Paved with Good Intentions, Soldiers’ Lives, and Taxpayer Dollars
Afghanistan Study Group by Will Keola Thomas
Planners believed the highway would strengthen the central government’s links with the border region and encourage commerce that would promote local buy-in, increase government legitimacy, and improve stability as markets flourished. All for the (low?) price of $69 million dollars. But things didn’t work out that way. First, the law of contracting entropy kicked in.
ARTICLES
5-16-11
U.S. speeds up direct talks with Taliban
The Washington Post by Karen DeYoung
The administration has accelerated direct talks with the Taliban, initiated several months ago, that U.S. officials say they hope will enable President Obama to report progress toward a settlement of the Afghanistan war when he announces troop withdrawals in July.
Chris Murphy: GOP Congressman Told Me He’s Afraid To Openly Criticize Afghanistan War
Huffington Post by Amanda Terkel
At a town hall meeting in his district on Sunday afternoon, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, discussed how his latest trip to Afghanistan reaffirmed his belief that the United States needs to withdraw its troops from there. Accompanying Murphy on the week-long congressional delegation trip were Democrat Cedric Richmond (La.) and Republicans Sean Duffy (Wis.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Jon Runyan (N.J.) and Bill Shuster (Pa.).
5-17-11
Murphy Sees Little Improvement in Afghanistan War
DanburyPatch by Jessie Sawyer
After his third trip to Afghanistan, the first in his term on the Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, said he was concerned that he didn’t notice much change.
5/18/11
Afghan government’s delays hinder recruitment of Taliban defectors
The Washington Post by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
The Afghan government has moved so slowly to recruit Taliban defectors that U.S. and Afghan officials say they are losing an opportunity to capitalize on hard-won military gains and the death of Osama bin Laden.
5/20/11
Jon Huntsman Criticizes Heavy U.S. Presence In Afghanistan: It’s Not ‘How We Ought To Be Responding’
The Huffington Post by Amanda Terkel
“The deployments are mighty expensive,” he said. ‘We’ve got to ensure that going forward into our new world that we have a foreign policy that is an extension of our core national interests. And does that mean that we’re going to have to look at the map at some point and reset our level of engagement and our deployments in some corners of the world. Absolutely it does.”
OPINION
5-14-11
What Holbrooke Knew
New York Times by Richard Kristof
As one of America’s finest strategic thinkers and special envoy to the Af-Pak region, Holbrooke represented the administration — but also chafed at aspects of the White House approach. In particular, he winced at the overreliance on military force, for it reminded him of Vietnam.
5/17/11
Afghanistan War: What Richard Holbrooke Really Thought
The Washington Note by Steve Clemons
Thanks to Kati Marton, the late Richard Holbrooke’s wife, Kristof was given access to key files and notes of Holbrooke’s in her possession — and with these, Kristof has painted a compelling picture that Holbrooke strongly believed that the Afghanistan War needed to be ended through tough-minded negotiations and eventual reconciliation with the Taliban.
Five reasons to leave Afghanistan
The Hill by Anne PenKeth
The death of Osama Bin Laden in a Navy SEALs strike deep inside Pakistan has focused new attention on the administration’s strategy in Afghanistan, which aims to enable a troop drawdown from July. Here are five reasons why President Obama should consider pulling out the 100,000 troops in Afghanistan now
5/19/11
Bored to Death in Afghanistan (and Washington)
CBS News
Let me explain with seven headlines ripped from the news, all of which sit atop Afghan War articles that couldn’t be newer — or older. Each represents news of our moment that was also news in previous moments; each should leave Americans wondering about Washington’s learning curve.
