Center for a New American Security

In keeping with my abstinence from daily blogging, I will not have any in-depth comments on the president's speech tonight or tomorrow morning, but I was struck by President Obama's reference to Eisenhower. His words:

If any of us were to corner Barack Obama on his trip to Asia and ask him what he was going to decide on Afghanistan, I do not think he would yet have an answer. Like Fred Kaplan, whose latest in Slate is worth reading, I don't think that is a bad thing. Not as long as when does make a decision, that decision sticks. Fred is also right that the troop levels matter less than what we decide to do with those troops.

I rarely go to middle-of-the-day think tank events, but I made an exception this afternoon for an excellent panel discussion Caroline Wadhams and the Center for American Progress set up involving Afghanistan experts Gilles Dorronsoro, Michael Semple and Joa

My readers are geniuses. They would have this debate sorted in no time, even if it took the Thunderdome:

Not to be outdone by AM on the traveling front, Londonstani has spent the best part of 24 hours on planes flying around the Middle East. And, the one good thing about travelling economy class on Emirates air are all the free English and Arabic newspapers.

The Taliban attacks on ISAF forces in Nuristan made for the top story in every single title. The story seems like a pretty straight forward affair, but hidden in its coverage is clue to how the Afghan conflict is being seen within the Muslim world.

Readers, there appears to have been some confusion as to whether or not I support the request made by Gen. McChrystal for more troops in Afghanistan. I do. But in addition to clarifying matters, allow me to put my opinions into context.

And you guys wonder why I admire Steve Biddle? Whereas I fire off 200-word blog posts, Steve doesn't so much as pour his cup of coffee in the morning without doing a thoughtful cost-benefit analysis. His testimony to the Senate last week was vintage stuff. He sketched out a case for the war in Afghanistan by starting with U.S. interests and then laying out the options, always acknowledging that the other side in the debate has a compelling argument too and that any course of action carries serious risks. 

Whew. It's been quite a whirlwind journey. After leaving Beirut on Thursday, I spent the weekend in Paris where, among other things, I paid a visit to my friend Etienne de Durand at IFRI and also lunched with another friend, Judah Grunstein (et fils).

...pundits (1, 2) and editorial boards (1, 2, Afghanistan, Strategy

So I was on the Newshour last night debating Afghanistan with a favorite of this blog and its readers, Andrew Bacevich. As readers of this blog know, I am uncomfortable when placed in the position of being expected to lustily defend the war.