Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Remember when all we talked about was Iraq?

It seems like a long time ago, does it not? Nowadays I feel like Afghanistan gets the lion share of the media coverage, which is by no means a bad thing.

These three recent columns on the state of affairs in Afghanistan--two from the Post and one from Slate--paint an interesting overall picture of the country.
"But in the meantime...we haven't exactly "neglected" Afghanistan, as Barack Obama and others often say. It's just that we haven't yet faced up to what we have undertaken to do here. Afghanistan is bigger than Iraq, more rugged, more impoverished and vastly more complicated, with more languages, more ethnic groups, more tribes and more-lethal neighbors. It has only begun to test our stamina."

Fred Kaplan lays out the differences between Iraq and Afghanistan in the context of a potential Afghanistan "surge". He's right to point out some key differences, but Kaplan's dismissal of significant tribal conflicts within Afghanistan betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the situation there. Applebaum alludes to this reality in the pull quote above.

Finally, David Ignatius bemoans the Taliban's continued ability to successfully come out on top of the Information battle. This one has particular interest to me, as public affairs and strategic messaging were part of my responsibility for the provinces I worked in. I think my team and I did good work, but as Ignatius suggests, Information operations are a part of the fight that we (the coalition) are still getting the hang of.

4 comments:

Sue said...

I have always felt that Afghanistan was like the forgotten war. Everyone talks about Iraq - how we shouldn't have gone there - blah blah blah...but the fact of the matter is, we are there. And so is my son in law. He just went over so we have a long year ahead of us. But don't think for a moment that you who serve in Afghanistan have been forgotten by this military mom. You are all awesome - I can't tell you that enough.
And you are appreciated.
Hugs to you - God keep you safe in "the other sand."
Sue

The Warrior said...

But don't think for a moment that you who serve in Afghanistan have been forgotten

I must echo this with energy.

I like the look of your blog! I hope you don't mind if I browse around a bit?

Spencer

Unknown said...

It wasn't long ago at all

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