Wall Street Journal (August 31)
In a best case scenario, the withdrawal from Afghanistan “frees the U.S. from a costly distraction and enables us to focus more on China. Let Russia worry about fanatical jihadist warriors and missionaries fanning out across Central Asia…. Let China cope with the double-dealing, back-stabbing, perpetually indigent Pakistani government. Let Iran deal with newly empowered Sunni zealots, uncontrolled opium flows and a stream of refugees pressing on its frontiers.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Best case, China, Costly, Distraction, Iran, Jihadist, Opium, Pakistan, Refugees, Russia, Scenario, U.S., Warriors, Withdrawal, Zealots
New York Times (August 21)
“The speed and scope of the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan has prompted introspection in the West over what went wrong…. China, though, is looking forward. It is ready to step into the void left by the hasty U.S. retreat to seize a golden opportunity.”
Tags: Afghanistan, China, Hasty, Introspection, Opportunity, Retreat, Scope, Speed, Takeover, Taliban, U.S., Void
Washington Post (August 18)
“Just as Afghanistan refuted the Soviet delusion that communism was the future, it has rebutted the American fantasy that there is a functional liberal democracy inside every theocracy or dictatorship, just waiting for us to let it out. Ethnicity, culture and religion are fundamental elements of human nature that have to be acknowledged, not engineering problems that can be solved.”
Tags: Acknowledged, Afghanistan, Communism, Culture, Delusion, Dictatorship, Ethnicity, Fantasy, Future, Human nature, Liberal democracy, Rebutted, Refuted, Religion, Soviet, Theocracy, U.S.
USA Today (September 11)
“Fourteen years ago, the United States suffered a shockingly successful surprise attack by a little known Islamic extremist group based 7,000 miles away in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.” Today, Al-Qaeda’s “influence lives on…through offshoot extremist groups,” especially the Islamic State (ISIL) whose “lightning spread” throughout “Syria and Iraq has been marked by medieval barbarity, adapted to the Internet age.” The U.S. must pursue ISIL as aggressively as it once pursued al-Quaeda. “ISIL represents the embodiment of evil in the modern world, and it mustn’t be allowed to establish a foothold from which to plot attacks against the United States or to inspire so-called lone wolf sympathizers to do so.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Barbarity, Extremists, Iraq, ISIL, Syria, Taliban, U.S. Islam
Washington Post (September 17)
“Afghanistan is teetering between a political implosion that could ignite civil war in Kabul and a power-sharing deal that could give the country another chance for stability.” Official election results will soon be announced, but due to voting irregularities a “winner-takes-all approach” is unsustainable. “It is up to Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Ghani [the two candidates] to show that Afghanistan can have a future under moderate, pragmatic leaders who are able to compromise.”
Tags: Abdullah, Afghanistan, Civil war, Compromise, Election, Ghani, Implosion, Kabul, Leaders, Moderate, Power sharing, Pragmatic, Results, Stability, Voting
USA Today (July 2)
“Any traveler to the Middle East today can feel the tidal wave sweeping the area. The Arab Awakening is now a distant memory, and the hopes for democracy have been replaced by the black flags of al-Qaeda,” except they are now known as ISIS. The threat is not limited to the Middle East. “If al-Qaeda, from its sanctuary in Afghanistan, could produce 9/11, imagine the threats ISIS can pose from the much larger area in Iraq and Syria.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Arab Awakening, Democracy, Iraq, ISIS, Middle East, Syria, Threat, Traveler
Forbes (March 24)
“Vladimir Putin has made a strategic blunder that could rival the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Moscow, counting on Western weakness, may, in the short term, succeed in carving up the country or ending the 22-year existence of an independent Ukraine. But it has set in motion forces that will severely damage Russia, as well as Putin’s own reign.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Blunder, Damage, Moscow, Putin, Russia, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Weakness, West
Los Angeles Times (January 12, 2014)
“The United States no longer knows how to win wars, but it continues to start them.” From hardware to preparedness, the U.S. military remains in a league of its own. Yet, since the end of the Cold War, “when it comes to finishing the job on schedule and on budget, their performance has been woeful.” The fighting in Iraq didn’t end when the U.S. left, nor is the fighting in Afghanistan likely to cease with the scheduled departure of U.S. troops. “For the United States, victory has become a lost art.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Budget, Cold war, Iraq, Military, Preparedness, Schedule, Troops, U.S., Victory
LA Times (May 21)
“The world’s war on polio” has been ambitious and has almost succeeded. Less than 100 people were paralyzed by polio, which is now found only in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. “But there is a looming danger.” In countries where polio is long forgotten, immunity is weak. Unless we wipe polio away from these final three countries, “a renewed outbreak could cripple as many as 1 million people within the decade, many of them children,” according to U.N. epidemiologists.
Financial Times (May 24)
Barack Obama’s visit to the UK has called attention to the long standing alliance between the two countries. While some say this relationship has been weakening, “the two countries’ interests are aligned on the most pressing questions.” These priorities include resolving conflict in Afghanistan, reaching a solution in Libya, and moving Israel and Palestine towards peace.
