ISAF Ministers pledge support to Afghanistan beyond 2014
Defence Ministers of the 49 nations which contribute to ISAF expressed strong commitment to support Afghanistan throughout the transition process and well beyond. READ MORE
Growing Afghanistan Doubts
Concern inside the U.S. military that Afghanistan is not going to end well is heating up. It's always been simmering, but now seems to be coming to a slow boil. Lately, at least in private conversations with officers up and down the chain, the concerns are becoming louder. READ MORE
Obama prepares to punish Pakistan
The Barack Obama administration is making an extraordinary bid with the United States Congress to get the seven-year old embargo on military aid to Uzbekistan lifted poste-haste this month. READ MORE
Agenda: With George Friedman on the Taliban Strategy
The past week’s attacks by the Taliban on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul may not yet have had a psychological impact on the United States, but it does cast doubt on the Obama administration’s claims of progress in the war. STRATFOR CEO Dr. George Friedman suggests the well-planned strike was aimed at improving the Taliban’s negotiating position. READ MORE
ISAF Commander sets his priorities for successful Transition in Afghanistan
General John Allen is six weeks into his command of ISAF and US troops in Afghanistan: “We will prevail in this campaign because the forces are well entrained and [we have] the right combination to do that.” READ MORE
U.S. and Pakistan: Afghan Strategies
U.S. President Barack Obama will give a speech on Afghanistan on June 22. Whatever he says, it is becoming apparent that the United States is exploring ways to accelerate the drawdown of its forces in the country. It is also clear that U.S. relations with Pakistan are deteriorating to a point where cooperation — whatever level there was — is breaking down. These are two intimately related issues. Any withdrawal from Afghanistan, particularly an accelerated one, will leave a power vacuum in Afghanistan that the Kabul government will not be able to fill. Afghanistan is Pakistan’s back door, and its evolution is a matter of fundamental interest to Pakistan. A U.S. withdrawal means an Afghanistan intertwined with and influenced by Pakistan. Therefore, the current dynamic with Pakistan challenges any withdrawal plan. READ MORE
Afghan leader says U.S. bases depend on neighbors
The possibility of the United States retaining long-term bases in Afghanistan could only be addressed once peace has been achieved and must take into account the country's neighbors, the Afghan president said on Saturday. READ MORE
View Is Bleaker Than Official Portrayal of War in Afghanistan
A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal. READ MORE
Is NATO to Blame for Russia's Afghan Heroin Problem?
It had to be one of the weirdest displays the Russian president had ever seen. Laid out on a table were a mound of walnuts, a chess set, an old tire and an anatomically correct dummy — all stuffed with little baggies of imitation heroin. Titled "The Deadly Harvest," the exhibit was meant to show the clever ways smugglers have of getting Afghan heroin into Russia, which has become the world's largest consumer of opiates from Afghanistan since the U.S. began its war there in 2001. READ MORE
