Commentary on Afghanistan

General Nicholson's Report Card. General John Nicholson has been in command of NATO's Resolute Support Mission for two years - as of March 2, 2018. He is very familiar with Afghanistan -having served as a brigade commander, RC deputy command, and operations officer for ISAF. So how has he done? Read "General John Nicholson - Two Years as RS Commander", SOF News, March 2, 2018.

Anthony Cordesman on Afghanistan. A scholar at the Center for Strategic & International Studies has penned an opinion piece about the lack of an overall U.S. strategy for much of the world in conflict. Along with many other trouble areas of the world he has some thoughts on Afghanistan (in quotes below). Found in "America's Chaos Strategy in the Middle East and South Asia", CSIS, February 26, 2018.

"America has made major improvement to its tactics and force development plans in Afghanistan, but done nothing to deal with civil and political stability. It not only faces a deteriorating security situation, it has no clear political, governance, or economic strategy to produce Afghan stability. It also ignores the fact that the central government seems to be shrinking back to becoming the government of 'Kabulistan'"

"Things Are No Better in Afghanistan". Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, says it is not too late for the administration to break the cycle of strategic folly that has categorized America's misadventure in Afghanistan. (Real Clear Defense, Feb 27, 2018).

Afghanistan Options for the U.S. Bing West, a military historian, provides us his thoughts on the future of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in "Afghanistan Options: Leave, Increase, Stand Pat, or Cut Back", Strategika, Hoover Institution - Stanford University, February 26, 2018.

Winning the Drug War. M. Ashraf Haidari writes about "How America Can Win the Drug War in Afghanistan", National Interest, March 1, 2018.

Noor on Ghani. Dismissed Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor has penned an opinion piece about Ashraf Ghani. He says that President Ghani's authoritarian tendencies have failed the Afghan people. Read "Trump's South Asia Strategy and Afghanistan's Political Stalemate: A Way Forward", The Diplomat, February 27, 2018.

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