The backers of the current counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan have reminded us again and again over the past year-and-a-half that their strategy can’t work without a legitimate government in Kabul. If that’s the case, even they should admit that their plan is sunk. As Brave New Foundation’s latest Rethink Afghanistan video shows, Afghanistan’s elections were just stolen. Again.

It’s startling to be reminded how long ago 9/11 was because our public figures keep talking about the Afghanistan War like it started last year. General Petraeus let us know back in February in a Meet the Press interview that we were just then getting “the inputs about right,” and were now “starting to see some of the outputs.” Nine years into this war, and Petraeus lets us know they’re just getting warmed up. Good God.

Little covered in the United States, twelve U.S. soldiers are facing charges of secretly killing Afghan civilians sport, and collecting body parts as trophies. The Army ignored warnings from soldier family members about what was happening. So far, prosecutors have not yet decided how or if to move forward with the case, though charging papers have been drawn up.

As President Obama’s strategy review for Afghanistan commences, let’s hope he’s balancing the information coming to him from his happy-talking generals with some independent news reading of his own.

The Pentagon’s public relations machine is working overtime these days trying to sell a theme of "progress" in Afghanistan to push back against calls to end the war. The message machine behind this push is gargantuan, costing $547 million and employing more than 27,000 people. But, as our latest Rethink Afghanistan video shows, all that [...]

With General Petraeus’ stop on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric now halfway over, it’s worth taking a moment to unpack the unchallenged, false assertions and implications he’s piled up thus far on his media tour. We decided to look into the claims he made about “oil spots” of “progress” during his interview with NBC’s David Gregory. Both claims were absolute fantasies, and the remaining journalists on Petraeus’ tour owe their viewers more rigorous skepticism than what we saw on Meet the Press.

Several Top Conservatives Demand GOP Chairman Resign Over Remarks Made at Party Fundraiser That ‘The One Thing You Don’t Do Is Engage in a Land War in Afghanistan’ Even As He Criticizes Obama — Ignoring the Fact That the President Inherited the War From Bush and That Steele’s Own Party Pushed for More Troops to be Sent There in the First Place

Watch "Don’t Let General Petraeus Move the Goalposts on Afghanistan" in HD on Facebook. Concern troll. In an argument (usually a political debate), a concern troll is someone who is on one side of the discussion, but pretends to be a supporter of the other side with "concerns". The idea behind this is that your [...]

When it comes to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke wants to get technical, but only when it suits him. This morning, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan went on NPR’s All Things Considered to take umbrage with reports, including Brave New Foundation’s latest Rethink Afghanistan video, that the Afghanistan War today supplanted Vietnam as the longest [...]

$1,000,000,000,000.00 — As of Sunday, that’s how much we’ve spent just in direct costs so far on the stupid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.