‘Angry’ President Will Meet McChrystal Tomorrow, but Strategy Likely to Remain the Same

“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…

Ex-Military Commissions Prosecutor on McChrystal: ‘Surely the Buck Doesn’t Stop at the Aide Level’

Some thorough legal analysis by Eugene Fidell of Yale, solicited by Adam Serwer. Fidell thinks that Gen. McChrystal’s comments were “disrespectful” but they don’t rise to the level of insubordination under Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (The operative word in the definition of an actionable offense More…

Gates Gives No Hints to McChrystal’s Fate

Just out from the secretary of defense, who has fired many a general officer during his tenure:

I read with concern the profile piece on Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the upcoming edition of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine. I believe that Gen. McChrystal made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment in

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Kerry on McChrystal: Stop the ‘Feeding Frenzy’

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the people Gen. Stanley McChrystal dissed to Rolling Stone, issued this statement that you could read as neither supporting nor opposing McChrystal.

When General McChrystal called me this morning, I emphasized that my concern is

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Biden Probably Wants to Renew His Rolling Stone Subscription

Vice President Biden will probably have the last laugh now that Gen. Stanley McChrystal is returning to Washington to learn his fate as commanding general in Afghanistan after insulting his civilian bosses and colleagues to Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings. No matter what happens to McChrystal, the article strengthens More…

McChrystal Apologizes for Insulting Obama Team to Magazine

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…

Nagl: We Can Pull This Afghanistan Thing Off

The president of the Center for a New American Security, John Nagl, has an op-ed in the New York Daily News arguing against despair for the Afghanistan war. “[I]t is possible over the next five years to build an Afghan government that can outperform the Taliban and an Afghan Army More…

Military Task Force Tackles Thorny Issue of Contractors in Afghanistan

It has an uncertain budget, a team of fewer than two dozen military officers and civilians, and barely a year to make its mark on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan before the U.S. begins its transfer of security responsibilities to Afghans. In that time, a new military task force will attempt to More…

Kandahar District Governor Murdered

Shortly after Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told a Senate panel this morning that “we are regaining the initiative and insurgency is beginning to lose momentum,” insurgents assassinated Hajji Abdul Jabar, the governor of Arghandab district in Kandahar. According to The Wall Street Journal, insurgents More…

Afghan Troop Size Numbers to Watch

Gen. Stanley McChrystal is citing these figures in the expansion of the Afghan security forces as an accomplishment of his first year in command of the Afghanistan war:

“A year ago, there were about 150,000 total Afghan national security forces,” he said. “Today, there are 230,000. That’s a significant

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