In Afghanistan, Obama’s withdrawal policy is clashing with his (lack of a)...
In a front-page story entitled “With pullout near, US in fix over some detainees,” The Washington Post reports this morning: The United States has quietly begun to whittle down the population of...
View ArticleAfghanistan: Was the war worth it?
After nearly 13 years of war in Afghanistan and with US troops scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2014, AEI resident fellow Thomas Donnelly explores the implications of over a decade of conflict and...
View ArticleBest of the foreign policy blogs (3/29-4/4)
Here is the best of what AEI’s foreign and defense policy scholars are reading this week: Jackson Diehl at the Washington Post considers John Kerry’s Departure From Reality Bret Stephens at the Wall...
View ArticleAfghan elections: Will democracy survive after Karzai?
The 2014 presidential elections in Afghanistan are set to be the first time in history that power has been peacefully transitioned in Afghan history. AEI resident scholar Frederick Kagan examines what...
View ArticleSmall footprint jeopardizes gains in Afghanistan
Quoting administration officials, Reuters reports that the White House is considering keeping fewer than 5,000 troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 – significantly less than the minimum 10,000 requested...
View ArticleAfghanistan braces itself for a risky runoff election
The Afghanistan election commission announced this morning that the second round of the country’s presidential vote would be held on June 14, after final results showed no outright winner in the first...
View Article5 myths about US troops in Afghanistan
Troops don’t matter. The Afghan “surge” didn’t work so there’s no reason to keep many US troops there. The Afghan “surge” actually did work—as far as it was allowed to. Although violence levels...
View ArticlePresident Strawman
When the epitaph for Barack Obama’s America is written, it will say: “Died of false alternatives.” The president’s addiction to porridge-too-hot, porridge-too-cold reasoning may be beyond treatment,...
View ArticleWill Obama provide air cover to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?
In November 2011, the Pentagon warned that the complete US withdrawal from Iraq would create a power vacuum that would soon be filled by Iran. At the time, The Los Angeles Times reported: As the last...
View ArticleThe coming al Qaeda comeback
The New York Times reports: For the first time since its emergence more than two decades ago, the Qaeda of Osama bin Laden finds itself facing a rival jihadist organization [in ISIS] with the resources...
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