In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

07/24/08: Strategy and Leadership Needed —Lt. Gen. (Ret.) David W. Barno, U.S. Army; commander, Combined Forces Command Afghanistan (2003-2005); director, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, Natl Defense University. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
07/22/08: What the U.S. Should Do —Andrew Exum, former Army captain, led U.S. Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan; Ph.D student, War Studies, King's College London. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.
07/08/08: Planning the Transition —Ghaith al-Omari, director of advocacy, American Task Force on Palestine; former foreign policy adviser to Palestinian President Abbas. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Neglecting Afghanistan

“[W]e're fighting two wars at once, three wars at once. We're fighting the global war on terror, we're fighting a war in Iraq, and we're fighting a war in Afghanistan. There are multiple demands on our forces. That's the reality of life at this point. The focus of our efforts clearly has been in Iraq, the battleground which Osama bin Laden identified as the central front in their war against us, the place in which they sought to set up a foothold for their caliphate that would reach into Europe.”
—Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell, DoD News Briefing, July 23, 2008

“The most dangerous area of the world … representing the most significant U.S. national security threat … is not Iraq but the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. … [W]e still lack relevant, long-term strategies to achieve sustainable security and stability in both Iraq and Afghanistan.”
—Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), speech, Brookings Institution, June 26, 2008

Middle East Analysis

Afghanistan: Not Lost, But Needs More Attention —Mohammad M. Stanekzai, Jennings Randolph Senior Afghanistan Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
Back to the Future —Karl F. Inderfurth, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia, and Wendy Chamberlin, former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan; president, Middle East Institute (Khaleej Times)
Afghanistan: Government Formation and Performance —Kenneth Katzman, specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division, CRS Report for Congress

Banning AKP is Greater Danger

April 14, 2008

“The threat posed by the policies of the AKP is clear and present. Concrete steps have been taken that may harm the civilized peace and the democratic regime in the country. … In this context, there is no other possibility than closing the party as the only sanction applicable and also required by the society in order to protect the society from this danger and to prevent [the AKP] from reaching its objective.”
--Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, chief public prosecutor of the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals, Indictment Against the Ruling AK Party, March 14, 2008

“I think the AK Party is not going to be closed down. But if it is, it's going to create more problems than it's going to solve. … Without the closure of the government party, Turkish democracy would still be there. … How can you talk about democracy when the party that has to vote is closed down and you can still claim to have a democracy? … We have seen party closures before. It's true. We have not seen the closure of a government party.”
--Faruk Logoglu, former Turkish ambassador to the United States, panel discussion on “Turkey’s Kurdish Conundrum,” Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution, March 20, 2008