War Is Boring

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

by DAVID AXE Click on the thumb for the whole strip. (Art: XKCD)

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

From my archive of killed and unsold articles, here’s a piece I wrote in Iraq in December 2007. by DAVID AXE This is not a litmus test for the Americans,” British Army Major Mike Shearer, a military spokesman, said to the assembled members of the press. It was Saturday, December 15, in a sandbagged, air-conditioned [...]

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

by KYLE MIZOKAMI * Comparing Bush’s Surge to Obama’s (Tom Ricks) * Dead Hand Re-examines the Cold War Arms Race (NPR) * Iran’s Secret Facility and the Greater Picture (Defense & Freedom) * Epidemics as a Defensive Strategy (War and Health) * The Utility of Amphibious Vessels (Maneuver in Maritime Asia)

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

by KYLE MIZOKAMI * Why Sanctions with Iran Won’t Work (Tom Barnett) * Are Pentagon contracts funding the Taliban? (Reuters Global News Blog)  * International Relations and Video Games (Kotaku) * Gearing up for the ‘three block war’ (The Jakarta Post) * The Chinese Pentagon building (Shanghiist, via Information Dissemination)

It was a war we thought we’d won. But after eight years of escalating violence, the Afghanistan conflict has morphed into something perhaps unwinnable. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda, a goal we’ve largely achieved. But in years of occupation, Washington has apparently conflated counter-terrorism with nation-building. Now the [...]

Click on the pic for more. (Photos: David Axe)