David Petraeus Is Wrong: Counterinsurgency Won’t Work in Gaza
When you only have a hammer. . .
Stanley A. McChrystal
U.S. Kills Qassem Soleimani
Donald Trump cuts off Iran’s terror arm in Iraq, while Israel braces for Iranian retaliation
Op-eds
Iran Through Saudi Eyes
The Saudis have a point. Those words do not flow easily from my pen. For more than three decades, the Arabian royals have spent billions of petro-dollars promoting Wahhabism, a poisonously anti-W...
Op-eds
US Adds Qods Force General as ‘Narcotics Kingpin’ for Heroin, Weapons Smuggling in Afghanistan
Today the US Department of the Treasury added an Iranian Qods Force general to the list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers for supporting heroin and opium smuggling in Iran and Afghani...
Op-eds
The Deceits of Seymour Hersh
Last June, the distinguished American journalist Seymour Hersh published an article in the New Yorker entitled “Iran and the Bomb: How Real Is the Nuclear Threat?” His answer...
Op-eds
Fixing Afghanistan was a Noble Project that Became a Noble Failure
This was a bad week for Afghanistan optimists. First, the British media leaked a c...
Op-eds
Iran’s Qods Force Commander Involved in Plot to Kill Saudi Ambassador
The commanding general of Iran's Qods Force, the special operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has been accused by the US government of being involved in the recently...
Op-eds
We’re There to Help
Last week in the northern province of Faryab, two more American soldiers were murdered by one of the police officers they are in Afghanistan to train. As my friend Diana West calculates, that bri...
Op-eds
On the NRO Libya Editorial, I Respectfully Dissent
I respectfully dissent from Wedesday’s NRO editorial, which urges that the United States go to war with Libya. The editorial doesn’t put it that way. Indeed, it doesn&r...
Op-eds
An Actor-centric Theory of War
The United States, the most powerful nation in the world, is reassessing its approach to war. With America entering the 10th year of what was originally called the global war on terror, the Natio...
Op-eds
Iran is On the Taliban’s Side in Afghanistan – Not Ours
In his op-ed for the Washington Post this morning, David Ignatius writes: I hope the administration will open a U.S.-Iranian channel on Afghanistan soon...
Op-eds
Iran-Backed Senior IMU Commander Captured in Afghan North
Coalition and Afghan forces captured a senior facilitator for the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan [IMU] with links to Iran during a raid yesterday in the northern Afghan province o...
Op-eds
Iran Pays Bounties to Taliban for Dead Americans
The Sunday Times (UK) reported yesterday, based on Taliban sources, that the Iranians are paying bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers. (The Times's account is behind a pay wall,...
Op-eds
Taliban commander linked to al Qaeda, Iran, killed in US strike in western Afghanistan
Coalition special operations forces and Afghan commandos have killed a wanted Taliban commander with links to al Qaeda and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, during a raid on a train...
Op-eds
Obama Taps Two Men Who Know How to Win
Rolling Stone magazine may have done in Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but the Rolling Stones may have it had right when they sang, "You can't always get what you want... But if you try sometimes...
Op-eds
What Is Israel to Do?
As Jennifer points out, Admiral Mullen's remarks about Iran are disconcerting. I am no military expert a...
Op-eds
A Bizarre Take on The Rules of Engagement
General David Petraeus has said that he will consider changing the rules of engagement in Afghanistan because of concerns that, though they are designed to protect civilians, they end up putting...
Op-eds
A Good General Is Not Enough
As General David Petraeus takes over the war in Afghanistan from General Stanley McChrystal, he faces a daunting set of challenges. Thirty years of fighting have taken their toll on the country....
Op-eds
Obama’ s Teachable Moment: Getting to Know the General
Rolling Stone’s piece on The Runaway General hit the web, and presto! before the print edition was even on the newsstands, Gen. Stanley McChrystal was ordered back to Washington for a sitdo...
Op-eds
US, Afghan forces hammer the Haqqani Network in Paktia
Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. US and Afghan forces again battled with the deadly Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan, near the border...