Switch to Petraeus Betrays Afghan Policy Crisis

Despite President Barack Obama's denial that his decision to fire Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan and replace him with Gen. David Petraeus signified any differences with McChrystal over war strategy, the decision obviously reflects a desire by Obama to find a way out of a deepening policy crisis in Afghanistan.

U.S. Private Security in Afghanistan “Pay Off Warlords, Taliban”

Every day, as many as 260 trucks filled with supplies for U.S. troops - from muffins to fuel to armoured tanks - are driven from the Pakistani port of Karachi across the Khyber pass into Afghanistan.

BOOKS-US: The More They Promise Change…

A year and a half into the presidency of Barack Obama, any hopes that he would usher in a dramatic rethinking of U.S. foreign policy have been more or less definitively dashed.

Hearings Reveal Lapses in Private Security in War Zones

Jerry Torres, CEO of Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions, has a motto: "For Torres, failure is not an option." A former member of the Green Berets, one of the elite U.S. Army Special Forces, he was awarded "Executive of the Year" at the seventh annual "Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards" in November 2009.

Fragile States Becoming More Fragile

Some of the world's weakest states are becoming ever more fragile, according to the 2010 edition of the annual "Failed States Index" (FSI) released here Monday by Foreign Policy magazine and the independent Fund for Peace (FFP).

Surge of Think Tanks Blurs U.S. Policy Lines – Part 2

There has been a growing tendency in recent years for think tanks and military brass to jointly pursue policy objectives, some of which are opposed by the public or the White House.

Surge of Think Tanks Blurs U.S. Policy Lines – Part 1

In early May, Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, was awarded the American Enterprise Institute's Irving Kristol Award, which is given to individuals who have "made exceptional intellectual or practical contributions to improved government policy, social welfare, or political understanding".

U.S.: Do Armed Contractors Belong in War Zones?

Should private contractors like Blackwater be allowed to continue to provide armed security for convoys, diplomatic and other personnel, and military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq? A bipartisan U.S. Congressional commission will spend two days cross-examining 14 witnesses from academia, government and the companies themselves to come up with an answer.

Timing of Leak of Afghan Mineral Wealth Evokes Scepticism

The timing of the publication of a major New York Times story on the vast untapped mineral wealth that lies beneath Afghanistan's soil is raising major questions about the intent of the Pentagon, which released the information.

McChrystal Faces “Iraq 2006 Moment” in Coming Months

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal confronts the spectre of a collapse of U.S. political support for the war in Afghanistan in coming months comparable to the one that occurred in the Iraq War in late 2006.

AFGHANISTAN: The News Is Bad

While U.S. officials insist they are making progress in reversing the momentum built up by the Taliban insurgency over the last several years, the latest news from Afghanistan suggests the opposite may be closer to the truth.

Concerns Grow over Bagram’s Prison within a Prison

The administration of President Barack Obama is considering using Afghanistan's U.S.-run Bagram Air Base prison to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects captured far from a battlefield and who have not been charged with a crime - without any judicial oversight.

Draft U.N. Treaty Targets Security Firms in War Zones

A United Nations Working Group that monitors the activities of mercenaries worldwide is now trying to rein in the widespread human rights abuses by private military and security companies (PMSCs), which are being increasingly deployed in war zones and peacekeeping operations.

CIA Drone Operators Oppose Strikes as Helping al Qaeda

Some CIA officers involved in the agency's drone strikes programme in Pakistan and elsewhere are privately expressing their opposition to the programme within the agency, because it is helping al Qaeda and its allies recruit, according to a retired military officer in contact with them.

U.N. Expert Calls On U.S. To Halt CIA Targeted Killings

Targeted killings, including those using drones, are increasingly being applied in ways that violate international law, according to a report issued Wednesday by a United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings.

Rights Groups Condemn Ruling on Bagram Detainees

Human rights advocates are expressing shock at a federal court ruling that detainees held by the United States in Afghanistan do not have the right to challenge their detention in a U.S. federal court - and dismay that their path to a successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court may be blocked.

McChrystal Strategy Shifts to Raids – and Wali Karzai

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's team once talked openly about the need to remove Ahmed Wali Karzai, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother and the most powerful man in Kandahar, from power.

Bill for Afghan War Could Run into the Trillions

The U.S. Senate is moving forward with a 59-billion-dollar spending bill, of which 33.5 billion dollars would be allocated for the war in Afghanistan.

Obama, Karzai Still Split on Peace Talks with Taliban

U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai sought to portray a united front on the issue of a political settlement with the Taliban in their joint press conference Wednesday. But their comments underlined the deep rift that divides Karzai and the United States over the issue.

U.S. Urged to Probe “Second Prison” at Bagram

Pressure is mounting on the U.S. government to investigate reports that inmates from the notorious prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan have been moved to a second separate facility - known as the Tor Jail, which translates as "black jail" - where they say they were held in isolation in cold cells with a light on day and night and deprived of sleep by U.S. military personnel.

Pentagon Faces Battle in Effort to Reverse Military Contracting

Pentagon chief Robert Gates has called for a cutback of 15 billion dollars in wasteful military spending on contractors as well as government bureaucracy, or risk not being able to pay for its current force.