This New York Times piece about farmers in Marja voting with their feet is perhaps the clearest evidence yet that the “holding” phase of February’s massive NATO/Afghan invasion of the Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province is going poorly:
Over 150 families have fled Marja in the last two
With U.S. and Afghan forces about to attempt to take the Afghan village of Marja in Helmand province away from the Taliban, Gen. Stanley McChrystal records this message about how — speaking mostly generically — he wants to show the Afghan people that the Afghan government is about to More…
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, is flying back to Washington from a three-day trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He briefed reporters by conference call from a Dubai airport about his visit, and he had a surprising assessment to report. According to Gen. William Caldwell, More…
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) wants to know: There are 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, partnered with 1,500 Afghan soldiers. Does that make sense, given that it’s the reverse of an aspirational ratio of three Afghan companies to one U.S. company?
Adm. Michael Mullen said that Levin’s numbers are More…
An anonymous military official was recently quoted as calling Helmand Province, site of a massive Marine operation, a “sideshow.” Someone forgot to tell Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Amb. Karl Eikenberry. Here’s how their joint civilian-military campaign plan describes the area:
In the coming year our greatest effort will
Don’t miss British photojournalist Jerome Starkey’s wonderful slideshow of what Afghanistan’s beleaguered Helmand Province looked like on election day. We’re looking more and more at a situation where prominent presidential candidates are saying widespread election fraud took place, putting the legitimacy of the outcome in doubt, and More…
All I have so far is an Associated Press story, and the AP doesn’t like bloggers, so I don’t want to blockquote anything. (Seriously, McCain hasn’t even tweeted anything in 24 hours. Tsk.) But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the failed presidential candidate and ranking Republican on the Senate More…
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