With the current financial crisis, Iraq and Afghanistan haven’t been leading many news stories. But those conflicts are still going on and, just as importantly, the effects of those wars are still being felt by the soldiers who fought them. Whatever you think of the policies behind our current wars, I think it’s always important [...]

Things are getting extremely dire… WASHINGTON — A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a “downward spiral” and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban’s influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document. The classified report finds that [...]

I agree with everything Chris has to say here. If Afghanistan has any hope of recovering, it’ll have to be via standard of living improvements, and nobody can make a living if we destroy their only cash crop. Especially when we could be buying it to produce legal pain killers. In other news, it sounds [...]

She got the name of the top general in Afghanistan wrong. It’s actually “McKiernan.” That can’t be good for people who think she’s inexperienced. Also, it turns out she was just plain wrong when she claimed he didn’t say an Iraq style surge didn’t work. And I quote… “Afghanistan is not Iraq,” said Gen. David [...]

This podcast discusses the proposed legislation to bailout Wall Street, McCain suspending his campaign to return to Washington and his call to postpone this Friday’s debate, a debate preview and a discussion of foreign policy issues (both obvious and not so obvious), and more… [Listen Online] or [Download] [Subscribe to 2008Central.net's Presidential Election Podcast] Feel [...]

This is not good news… Surprisingly enough, Christopher Hitchens thinks Obama has the right plan when it comes to Pakistan… Sen. Barack Obama has, if anything, been the more militant of the two presidential candidates in stressing the danger here and the need to act without too much sentiment about our so-called Islamabad ally. He [...]

In this podcast we discuss (1) the shake up in the McCain Campaign, (2) Obama’s statement on revising his Iraq strategy, (3) Obama and his history with low income housing subsidies for private developers and (4) rumors about McCain’s VP announcement timetable… [Listen Online] or [Download] [Subscribe to 2008Central.net's Presidential Election Podcast] Feel free to [...]

In a Rose Garden news conference today, President Bush said he hopes to be able to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan by the end of this year. While there’s nowhere near a guarantee that Iraq will be stable enough for this kind of redeployment, the move would likely cause some tension amongst Democrats running [...]

Given our lack of attention to this region, is it much of a surprise that the former regime is getting stronger? A new Pentagon report says the Taliban has regrouped after its initial fall from power in Afghanistan. The new report offers a rather dim view of progress in the nearly 7-year-old war, declaring that [...]

Maybe… From NY Times: Mr. Obama, who spoke to the Iraqi foreign minister [Hoshyar Zebari] by telephone this morning, said he was “encouraged” by the reductions in violence in Iraq. But he said the United States still must begin gradually withdrawing troops, at a pace of one to two brigades a month, with a goal [...]

And considering we have about 26,000 troops in Afghanistan, the overall percentage proves that Afghanistan has been a much, much deadlier place for quite some time. Not surprisingly, I found this news in a story about an attack by the Taliban that freed hundreds of inmates from an Afghan prison: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – U.S. and [...]

This is very good news, but what about the billions we continue to spend over there with no discernible gain? Remember, lowered troop deaths doesn’t mean political progress, it just means there’s more security and fewer families devastated stateside. From Reuters: U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the [...]

The title says it all. USA Today has the details: More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show. This reliance on troops found medically “non-deployable” is another sign of stress placed on a [...]

Some sobering news about how many of our young men and women are dying from wounds they suffered on the battlefield that nobody could see until it’s too late. From Bloomberg: The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, [...]

From the AP: The killings of three U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad pushed the American death toll for April up to 47, making it the deadliest month since September. One soldier died when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. The other died of wounds sustained when he was attacked by small-arms [...]

I saw this in the comments from my post today, Nearly 1 In 5 Soldiers Have PTSD: I’m the Vet who contacted Carissa Piccard and Liz Dozier at CBS. Jonathan & I talked for over an hour today. He agrees that both Carissa & Liz totally rock. So do I – in spades. Jonathan is [...]

From AP: A recently completed survey showed 18.5% — or 300,000 people — said they have symptoms of depression or PTSD, the researchers said. Nineteen% — or 320,000 — suffered head injuries ranging from mild concussions to penetrating head wounds. [...] The 500-page study is the first large-scale, private assessment of its kind — including [...]

An interesting moment from yesterday’s testimony with Biden, Petraeus and Crocker. And while some on the left and the right have been trying to make hay out of this, the segment does have my wondering why, if our highest priority targets are in Afghanistan, that we’re not trying to destroy them. I understand we think [...]

In early September, 2006, I wrote a piece at my own blog, and here at Donklephant, (more here) asking whether we had just lost a war. Afghanistan was the subject, and sadly, I think I was pretty close to right. The attempt by Musharraf to compromise with the Taliban and their allies in the tribal [...]

“I must say, I’m a little envious.[...] If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.” – President Bush, talking to soldiers in Afghanistan on a video conference call yesterday Coming from a different President [...]