Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Obama worked in an address to the troops and a sit-down with President Karzai in just six hours on the ground in Afghanistan. The brief weekend trip was his first to the nation as commander in chief. Michael tagged along to tell the tale.
–Reuters describes how the entire thing was …
Retiring Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, is clearly upset with the media’s morbid fascination with Tickle-Me-Massa. He feels that this episode is robbing newspaper inches and front-page real estate from the coverage our brave colleagues are producing out of Afghanistan. And when I say upset, I mean really, really, really, …
Meanwhile, on the other side of Capitol Hill, Dennis Kucinich introduces legislation to end the war in Afghanistan:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwQKfwAGgEA&feature=player_embedded]
Some excellent reporting from our colleague Tim McGirk about the complicated relationship between the Pakistanis and the Taliban–and the recent capture of Mullah Abdel Gani Baradar, the Taliban military commander who may have been on the outs with Mullah Omar.
Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting that the Pakistanis seem to …
This, by Thom Shanker of the NY Times, is a very good analysis of Stanley McChrystal’s strategy in the battle for Marjah. It is, to be sure, a new kind of warfare–a major battle as demonstration project–that isn’t counterinsurgency, but complements it. Helmand Province isn’t the center of gravity of the Taliban insurgency; Kandahar …
–One of the few areas of comity and cooperation between the parties during the Obama administration has been education policy. The Washington Post reports this morning that Democrats and Republicans in the House are taking a bipartisan stab at rewriting No Child Left Behind.
–It looks like the White House may have a deal on forming …
–Despite the high profile retirements and a Majority Leader on the ropes in Nevada, the chances of the GOP flipping the Senate in November remain slim, albeit not impossible. Adam Nagourney looks at the map in today’s Times, concluding that Republicans would have to run the table in all competitive races to have a shot.
–Everybody …
The senior military intelligence officer in Afghanistan has penned a stinging evaluation of his team’s ability to collect the right kind of information. In a paper for the Center For New American Security, Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn writes:
Eight years into the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. intelligence community is only marginally
…
As Republicans have become less and less inclined to reach out to the Democrats and the Obama Administration – those even willing to listen are becoming noteworthy. Lindsey Graham is one of those who’ll listen, though it remains to be seen if any major legislation will be produced from his talks. In researching this story, I was …
Today, in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai gave his own assessment to the length of time U.S. forces will need to stay in his country. It did not overlap too exactly with President Obama’s plan to begin drawing down forces in July of 2011, less than two years from now. The Associated Press reports:
After meeting Tuesday with U.S. Defense
…
White House officials just briefed reporters on President Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan. Here is the top-line takeaway:
1. He plans to increase troop strength in Afghanistan by 30,000 Americans, making the total U.S. troop count 98,000. These forces will be in place by the summer of 2010. A senior administration calls the …
A little before 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, a reporter for Scripps Howard, who had drawn weekend pool duty, sent his colleagues in the White House press corps a note: “WH press has no details as to how POTUS spent the day, except to say that he spent it at the White House.” With that, a full lid was called for the night.
The mystery of …
