In a way, I’ve been working on this week’s cover story–which sadly resides behind the Time paywall–for the past five years, as I’ve embedded with our troops downrange. Watching them in the field, I’ve noticed that they’ve had …
Foreign Policy
The Military Legacy of David Petraeus
When David Petraeus retires from the Army at the end of this month to take the helm at the CIA, he’ll leave behind a radically different fighting force from what existed even a decade ago. As Joe writes in this week’s issue of TIME, Petraeus, the intellectual force behind the counter-insurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaves a …
Seal Team Six
I’ve been trying to figure out how best to celebrate and mourn the members of Seal Team Six and our Afghan allies who were shot down in a Chinook helicopter last week. Hugh Hewitt does it well here. And I would add: those who would see this tragedy as another opportunity to make political points, on either side–please don’t. Not that …
You Remember Libya
While Washington was dealing with the absolutely crucial debt ceiling waste of time, the world has remained in business…or, perhaps, in chaos. Libya, for example. No sooner did the primary western countries, including the U.S., recognize the Libyan rebel “government,” than did that government start fracturing. A military leader was …
“Nation Building Here at Home”
In this week’s issue of TIME, Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass takes President Obama’s call for domestic investment from a June speech announcing an accelerated withdrawal from Afghanistan, and expands it into a new way of thinking about U.S. foreign policy. With the threat of a dominance struggle between global …
The Pentagon’s Fuzzy Math: What Defense “Cuts” Really Mean
If you’ve been paying attention, you may have heard that President Obama has pledged to cut $400 billion out of security spending between now and 2023. But what you may not know is that the $400 billion won’t be a cut as far as Joe and Jane Taxpayer are concerned. Todd Harrison, Washington’s defense-budget wizard, says letting Pentagon …
Obama Fails to Budge Arab Opinion
The economy and the budget may be consuming Barack Obama’s presidency, but don’t forget that his candidacy was largely–perhaps even mostly–about foreign policy. At the core of Obama’s rationale for running in 2008 was his promise to restore America’s international strength, and diminish the threat of terrorism, by withdrawing our …
The Ahmed Wali Karzai Assassination
Ahmed Rashid, as usual, provides the best and most personal assessment of Ahmed Wali Karzai’s death.
A Killing in Kandahar: What Ahmed Wali Karzai’s Death Means for the U.S.
A huge power vacuum has opened in southern Afghanistan with the assassination Tuesday of Ahmed Wali Karzai, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s half brother and, fundamentally, the godfather of Kandahar. U.S. officials are debating whether he will be followed by a more benign tribal autocrat or someone alleged to be just as bad — and how …
Afghan Assassination
This is huge news, but I’m not sure what it means. Ahmed Wali Karzai was the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan. He was President Karzai’s half-brother. He was most likely a major drug lord; he was definitely on the payroll of the CIA. He was therefore an iconic figure: the embodiment of everything that has made Afghanistan a …
A Sober, Steady Hand: Robert Gates’ Legacy at the Pentagon
Departing Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the 10th military chief I have covered since Harold Brown was running Jimmy Carter’s Pentagon. After a private dinner at the White House on Wednesday night, and a final ruffles-and-flourishes sendoff at the Pentagon on Thursday, Gates will fly off for his home in Washington state and never look …
China Syndrome
There’s been a fair amount of comment about the relatively dovish position most Republican candidates for President have taken on Afghanistan (with the exception of Tim Pawlenty). But there has been an equally surprising development with regard to China: a decisive step away from free trade by more than a few of the candidates, led — …
Petraeus and Obama
Mark Benjamin landed a good zing on General David Petraeus yesterday by flagging the 450-word cloud that resulted when the general was asked during Senate testimony whether he supports Obama’s troop-withdrawal decision. It was …