Afghanistan Update

There's plenty of coverage these days about the war in Iraq, while news and commentary regarding our engagement in Afghanistan is a little more difficult to come by.  I recently read a very good book and a couple of news articles that shed a lot of light on events in that historically war-torn country.  If you're looking to keep abreast of current events in this part of the world, you can't go wrong by reading any of the information below. 

Michael Scheuer's well-written book Imperial Hubris focuses on US policies in the so-called "war on terror" in general, with excellent insight into al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.  A significant portion of the book, however, deals with the situation in Afghanistan and what policies will and won't work there.  The book is fairly pessimistic in tone, but it is extremely difficult to argue with Mr. Scheuer's credentials or his analysis of the situation.

A slightly more optimistic, yet counterintuitive point of view can be found in a recent Washington Post article titled "Two Myths About Afghanistan" by Ann Marlowe.  Ms. Marlowe has spent a good deal of time in Afghanistan since 2002.  It's her opinion that the overall security situation is getting better based on the military's implementation of an improved counterinsurgency strategy.  However, at the highest political level, President Hamid Karzai is an ineffective leader and is not a "bulwark against the Taliban or ethnic strife".  She blames the Bush Administration for overstating Karzai's importance and effectiveness. 

For a look at how Afghanistan is shaping relations between NATO member countries, please read an article in this week's Economist, "Where the Sniping Has to Stop".  In their view the war is being botched at the highest political levels, and that more unity from the West is required to overcome the poverty, poor government and drug-financed insurgency that forms the basis of today's Afghanistan.