Afghanistan “far from ready to assume responsibility for security” for 2014 withdrawal

By Paul Mutter The International Crisis Group has issued a report strongly critical of the expectations being advanced by US policymakers that Afghanistan will be “stable” enough by 2014 for a handover of national security to Kabul: A repeat of previous… Continue Reading

The reluctance that dogs the West’s approach to Iran

The front page of the 13 July edition of the Daily Telegraph caused a stir in Britain. The headline, amplified by that morning’s BBC News, read: “We foiled Iranian nuclear weapons bid, says spy chief”. Referencing a speech by the… Continue Reading

U.S. Afghanistan Commander: ‘The United States Is Going To Be Here For Some Period Of Time’

Reposted by arrangement with Think Progress In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, the U.S. military commander atop international forces in Afghanistan said U.S. forces would not be leaving the war-torn Central Asian country any time soon. The comments by… Continue Reading

Israel estimates Iran will have the bomb in 2014

Buried deep in the New York Times article about the Stuxnet virus apparently infecting computers at Iranian nuclear facilities was a peek at Israel’s assessment of Iran’s alleged drive towards a nuclear weapon. In the piece, mentioned in today’s Talking… Continue Reading