A response to Spencer Ackerman’s opening gambit on Pakistan diplomacy

The new United Nations report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan shows that the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is failing, even according to the military’s own doctrine. According to COIN theory, if you can’t prevent your own side from killing civilians, and you can’t offer credible assurances of security to the population, you lose. And, guess what? Judged by its own standards, the U.S. military is losing. It’s time to end this mission.

Exclusive, on-the-ground interviews obtained by Brave New Foundation’s Rethink Afghanistan project confirm what NATO forces repeatedly denied: U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan killed dozens of people in the Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 23.

According to the New York Times and Congressman Joe Sestak, most people really aren’t concerned about the war in Afghanistan. What do you think?

The New York Times continues to downplay the human rights abuses, amounting in some instances to war crimes, in its reporting on the classified documents released by Wikileaks. In contrast to the Guardian and Der Spiegel, the NYT’s failed to highlight the many accounts of atrocities committed by U.S. and coalition troops in the papers’ recent coverage.

Historically, the US does not want the American people involved in deciding what the US does in its foreign policy. Contrary to American tradition, Julian Assange and Wikileaks display a belief in the value of citizen participation and interest in the business of governments worldwide. As Assange said of the leak, “People who are around the world who are reading this are able to comment on it and put it in context and understand the full situation.”

The 92,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan posted by Wikileaks and made public on Sunday are already causing a firestorm.

Classified information on the war in Afghanistan has been released by three major media sources in the world–the New York Times, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel. Nearly 92,000 documents were provided to the three sources by Wikileaks, and have been published in the form of “war logs.”

What does the story of a night raid in Wardak province tell us about the consequences of our war in Afghanistan?

What are the United States’ National Interests in Afghanistan, and what does that have to do with the politics surrounding the War?