Afghanistan

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

The challenge the United States faces in Afghanistan is more analogous to what Russia faced in Chechnya than our own experience in Vietnam.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Bring some troops home, hire more private military security companies, train the Afghanistan Army, such as it is, and hold the contracted companies to a timetable of objectives to incentivize and build some real measurables into the strategy.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Of course they do. But when the awaited tally for troop levels comes forth from the White House, they’ll only speak about the uniformed service members. We shouldn’t be fooled by the numbers…contractors will fill the gaps for General McChrystal. The General knows that.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Having not defined winning in Afghanistan, we can afford to lose. But meanwhile, American soldiers fight and die there. Meanwhile, a Commander-in-Chief rarely speaks to his commanders.

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Sometimes a person can be his own worst enemy. That may well be the case with Hamid Karzai. The Afghan president would very likely have won the election if it had been squeaky clean, but he apparently didn't want to take the relatively small chance that he might lose.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

It’s just an excuse for the fact that there is no American strategy in Afghanistan. It’s a secret and unpopular recognition that we cannot go this alone. We need support from the government of Afghanistan and our allies, as well as potential allies who now observe. There will be no strategy until February 2010.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Did General McChrystal take his dog-eared copy of Jean Lartéguy’s novel “The Centurions” with him to Afghanistan? He probably has a copy of the sequel “The Praetorians”, also. McChrystal and Petreaus read this at West Point a few years ago. So what?

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial columnist

We've seen this before, and we will see it again: American officials warning that Afghanistan is a problem.

The answer, sadly, is that the answers aren't in more troops, or better tactics. The answers are found in history: Failure is inevitable.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

I hope this doesn’t get personal, but the Washington Post hasn’t helped the discussion, by releasing General McChrystal’s confidential memo asking for more troops and using the “F bomb”…worse than that one…his bomb was failure.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

On Monday, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee made the international private military contracting community very happy.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

After his rescue today, Stephen Farrell’s fees will certainly go up drastically. Let’s check back with him after Christmas and see what he charges to speak for one hour to your Rotary Club. The body count from his rescue is unclear.

By Grant Martin, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

For anyone who has been to Afghanistan, the challenges that the NATO effort presents are understood all too well. If anyone thought things would get simple with a new commander, the recent bombing involving German troops and alleged civilian deaths burst that illusion.

By E. Thomas McClanahan, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama called Afghanistan a “war of necessity.” Now we’ll see if he means it.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

A few months ago while watching two self-professed, Ivy-Leagued, retired after five years of military service, Washington counterinsurgency experts, I knew we were on the path to an exit sooner rather than later.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Yesterday, George Will proposed an exit from Afghanistan.

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

The recent dustup between Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. Envoy Richard Holbrooke creates a dangerous roadblock to democracy in that nation.

By Grant Martin, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices Columnist, '09

Up front I'd like to make it clear that I am not saying I agree with the thoughts posted below- as they may be policy subjects. But, I thought these remarks made in an unattributable forum recently at Leavenworth were interesting

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

This week, General Stanley A. McChrystal issued counterinsurgency guidance to his forces in Afghanistan.

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

On Thursday, Afghanistan picks a new leader. But, as with much there, the issue is whether progress is possible.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist

The repressive family law that just went into effect in Afghanistan, at least, should make us pause to consider whether there is a good outcome in that nation.

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Everyone knows the curious fact that when you square a number between zero and one, it gets smaller, but if you square a number greater than one, it gets bigger. What most people don’t know is that these facts are important for determining if our policies in Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately lead to stability.

By E. Thomas McClanahan, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

My question was simple: “Can we win in Afghanistan?” But that only prompted another question: “How do you define victory?”

With that, any sense of clarity was a lost hope.

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

As the United States increases troops in Afghanistan, the temptation is to look back at our success in dampening violence in Iraq, which is allowing a drawdown of troops in that country. While security in Iraq is a very fragile thing, it is now a less violent place than it has been in years.

Only a few weeks ago, Obama administration officials expected NATO to strongly support plans to boost troop totals in Afghanistan.

President Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan may sound narrow and limited, initially. The goal, he said, is to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan …”

By Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star columnist

Remember Afghanistan, the lair of Osama bin Laden, where the war on terror was launched? With all the economic trouble that the Obama administration and Congress are dealing with, it’s easy to forget this ticking time bomb in Asia.

A former prime minister who opposes Pakistan's President Musharraf has pledged that a democratic Pakistan would be a better partner for the U.S. in stabilizing Afghanistan and fighting terrorism. In an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations in August that was not widely reported, Benazir Bhutto, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, commented on the increasing power of Islamist religious parties in Pakistan. Bhutto stated that under President Musharraf, religious parties have grown in power while Musharraf's government has exiled moderate political leaders.

Bhutto told the council that "military dictatorship, first in the '80s and now again, under General Musharraf, has fueled the forces of extremism." Bhutto also told the Council that Musharraf's government has allowed religious parties to rise to power to the point that for the first time "they run two of Pakistan's four federating units -- two most critical states of Pakistan, those that border Afghanistan."