Bob Woodward’s new book, entitled “Obama’s Wars,” will be released next Monday. The book covers the Obama administration’s decision-making process about troop levels in Afghanistan and details the internal squabbles among administration figures and military leaders.
Most of the juicy bits seem to be about these personality clashes, and More…
“He was angry,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said just now about President Obama’s reaction after reading Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s comments to Rolling Stone disrespecting several senior administration officials. Gibbs said he didn’t want to “prejudge” tomorrow’s Situation Room meeting between the general and the president to see More…
A not-yet-released Rolling Stone magazine profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, quotes him and anonymous aides expressing anger, disrespect and derision at various members of the Obama administration, including Vice President Biden, Amb. Richard Holbrooke and Amb. Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to the More…
Seriously, that’s the gist of a panel next week at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The peace-building think tank wants to explore the lessons of SMS-based relief campaigns for victims of the Haiti earthquake and Pakistani military push against Taliban insurgents for the Afghanistan conflict. Both were heavily promoted More…
The New York Times has a good overview of the tone of this week’s Washington visit by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai: an end to nearly 18 months of very public pressure, doubts and the occasional insult, and the beginning of an embrace. Why?
“Two things are happening,” said Richard Fontaine,
The Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan will soon augment his team with one of the senior-most officials responsible for implementing the civilian surge on the ground. Frank Ruggiero, who oversees 110 U.S. and allied civilians in southern Afghanistan, is set to become Amb. Richard Holbrooke’s deputy this More…
The Obama administration doesn’t want to fight with Afghan President Hamid Karzai anymore. Amb. Richard Holbrooke, the special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the U.S.’s relationship with the Afghan president is in “good shape.” That stuff about Karzai threatening to join the Taliban if he didn’t get to control More…
It’s a small gesture, but during a press briefing yesterday on coordinating NATO civilian-military planning with Afghan efforts, Amb. Richard Holbrooke, the administration’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, made sure to single out the country’s increasingly volatile president for conspicuous praise:
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in a bad mood because President Obama is too mean to him. His people ran to Some anonymous official ran to The New York Times to say so:
“He has developed a complete theory of American power,” said an Afghan who attended the
Kalsoom Lakhani over at Changing Up Pakistan takes a look at the conclusion of this week’s ministerial talks.
[A]s expected, a diplomatic “We’re Just Not That Into You” move on the civilian nuclear deal and drone strike technology, but a thumbs up on the substantial topics, i.e. development.
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