frank ricciardone

Here’s the highlight reel from soon-to-be-retired Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry’s opening statement during his confirmation hearing to become U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, before  the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass), the committee chairman — who will probably be briefed by special envoy Richard Holbrooke on the Obama administration’s new Afghanistan strategy this afternoon [...]

Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post reports that all of that “whole-of-government” stuff coming from the Obama administration about (among other things) bolstering civilian efforts in Afghanistan is coming to pass:
Hundreds of additional U.S. diplomats and civilian officials would be deployed to Afghanistan as part of the new civil-military regional strategy that President Obama’s top [...]