Despite 2009 “Surge” Taliban Remains Force to be Reckoned with in Afghanistan

Foreign Policy’s Stephen Walt highlights a chart by Belfer Center fellow Matt Waldman showing that as the US-led 2009 “Surge” in Afghanistan proceeded, US casualties increased. The pace in 2012 is also roughly similar to the toll from the previous two years: Equally important,… Continue Reading

Broadwell Defended Petraeus’ Village Destruction Policy

via IPS News Paula Broadwell, whose affair with Gen. David Petraeus brought his career to a sudden end last week, had sought to help defend his decision in 2010 to allow village destruction in Afghanistan that not only violated his… Continue Reading

Sanctions Continue to hit Average Iranians

The US-led sanctions regime isn’t directly targeting Iran’s healthcare system but reports continue to suggest that critically-ill Iranians are being affected. The Al Jazeera English clip above squares with Najmeh Bozorgmehr’s Financial Times article from September about how sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank are… Continue Reading

WaPo on the “disposition matrix,” the CIA’s next-generation kill list

By Paul Mutter The Washington Post‘s Greg Miller has begun a three-part series on the future of the Obama Administration’s counterterrorism drone strike program, which will include a “next-generation targeting list” (aka “kill list”) in the form of a “dipposition matrix”. Though… Continue Reading