Ten Years
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan.
Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor
From The New York Times:
KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.
But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.
“It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot of money.”
Woops?
“The Afghanistan War is now the longest war in U.S. history. If an end-date isn’t set, we could be there forever. We want a responsible withdrawal that’s complete no later than December 2011.”
From Rethink Afghanistan: “Tell Congress It’s Time to End the Longest War in U.S. History”
KABUL (AP) — More than 80 schoolgirls have fallen ill in three cases of mass sickness over the past week in northern Afghanistan, raising fears that militants who oppose education for girls are using poison to scare them away from school, authorities said Sunday.
The left has been disappointed with Obama for his torture and Afghanistan policy, but it’s worth noting that most congressional Democrats have shown little willingness to support Obama when he tries to make changes in the American approach to national security.
Remember Iraq? For months our attention has been focused on Afghanistan, and you can be sure that the surge will be covered exhaustively as it unfolds in 2010. But the coming year could be even more pivotal in Iraq. The country will hold elections in March to determine its political future. Months of parliamentary horse trading will likely ensue, which could provoke a return to violence. The United States still has 120,000 troops stationed in Iraq, and all combat forces are scheduled to leave by August, further testing the country’s ability to handle its own security. How we draw down in Iraq is just as critical as how we ramp up in Afghanistan: If handled badly, this withdrawal could be a disaster. Handled well, it could leave behind a significant success.
