“The drones were terrifying. From the ground, it is impossible to determine who or what they are tracking as they circle overhead. The buzz of a distant propeller is a constant reminder of imminent death. Drones fire missiles that travel faster than the speed of sound. A drone’s victim never hears the missile that kills him.”

David Rohde, in the Reuters Magazine article “The Drone Wars.”

Read the rest of the article | Download Reuters Magazine [PDF]

(via reuters)
High-res Losing the support of Afghanistan’s people was more destructive to the war than losing any firefight to the Taliban. But McChrystal didn’t sufficiently sell his decisions to his own troops, explaining to them why they were ultimately in their interests. “I would love to kick McChrystal in the nuts,” a Special Forces veteran told Michael Hastings for his fateful McChrystal profile in Rolling Stone. “His rules of engagement put soldiers’ lives in even greater danger.” There was something else missing from McChrystal’s network: the U.S. embassy in Kabul. While McChrystal and Amb. Karl Eikenberry, a former Afghanistan war commander himself, supposedly enjoyed good relations, the embassy and NATO sometimes seemed like they weren’t in the same country. Then one of Eikenberry’s cables back to Washington casting doubt on McChrystal’s desired troop surge leaked to the press. That poisoned the well. “Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books,” McChrystal kvetched to Hastings. “Now if we fail, they can say, ‘I told you so.’” But the surge itself was causing a breach with the most important node in McChrystal’s network: the White House. In the 2009 debates over sending more troops to Afghanistan, President Obama reportedly felt like the military was boxing him into an unwise escalation. McChrystal, in London for one of his first public appearances, bluntly remarked that he thought all other strategies were doomed. Although McChrystal repeatedly defended the Obama team, the press went wild with a narrative about an insubordinate commander, and not without some justification. Obama ultimately endorsed the surge, but it was, at best, a Pyrrhic victory for McChrystal.  (via How Special Ops Copied al-Qaida to Kill It | Danger Room | Wired.com)

Losing the support of Afghanistan’s people was more destructive to the war than losing any firefight to the Taliban. But McChrystal didn’t sufficiently sell his decisions to his own troops, explaining to them why they were ultimately in their interests. “I would love to kick McChrystal in the nuts,” a Special Forces veteran told Michael Hastings for his fateful McChrystal profile in Rolling Stone. “His rules of engagement put soldiers’ lives in even greater danger.”

There was something else missing from McChrystal’s network: the U.S. embassy in Kabul. While McChrystal and Amb. Karl Eikenberry, a former Afghanistan war commander himself, supposedly enjoyed good relations, the embassy and NATO sometimes seemed like they weren’t in the same country. Then one of Eikenberry’s cables back to Washington casting doubt on McChrystal’s desired troop surge leaked to the press. That poisoned the well. “Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books,” McChrystal kvetched to Hastings. “Now if we fail, they can say, ‘I told you so.’”

But the surge itself was causing a breach with the most important node in McChrystal’s network: the White House. In the 2009 debates over sending more troops to Afghanistan, President Obama reportedly felt like the military was boxing him into an unwise escalation. McChrystal, in London for one of his first public appearances, bluntly remarked that he thought all other strategies were doomed. Although McChrystal repeatedly defended the Obama team, the press went wild with a narrative about an insubordinate commander, and not without some justification. Obama ultimately endorsed the surge, but it was, at best, a Pyrrhic victory for McChrystal.

 (via How Special Ops Copied al-Qaida to Kill It | Danger Room | Wired.com)

  • Wired
High-res thenewrepublic: According to the senior American military commander in Afghanistan, the United States quickly responded to the downing of an American Chinook helicopter this past weekend by Taliban insurgents—which resulted in the deaths of all 38 people aboard, including 30 American soldiers—with a swift dose of revenge. On Monday, an American F-16 fighter jet reportedly killed the Taliban leader and the group that perpetrated the attack. Of course, military payback of this sort has a long history; here’s a look at nine doses of military vengeance.

thenewrepublic:

According to the senior American military commander in Afghanistan, the United States quickly responded to the downing of an American Chinook helicopter this past weekend by Taliban insurgents—which resulted in the deaths of all 38 people aboard, including 30 American soldiers—with a swift dose of revenge. On Monday, an American F-16 fighter jet reportedly killed the Taliban leader and the group that perpetrated the attack. Of course, military payback of this sort has a long history; here’s a look at nine doses of military vengeance.

High-res inothernews: DROP STEADY   1st Lt. Nikesh Kapadia, 24, center, with the U.S. Army’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, stood in the rain Wednesday while waiting to go through customs in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, on the way back to the U.S. after a deployment in Afghanistan. (Photo: David Goldman / AP via the Wall St. Journal)

inothernews:

DROP STEADY   1st Lt. Nikesh Kapadia, 24, center, with the U.S. Army’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, stood in the rain Wednesday while waiting to go through customs in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, on the way back to the U.S. after a deployment in Afghanistan. (Photo: David Goldman / AP via the Wall St. Journal)

High-res newsweek: blakegopnik: Daily Pic: A recent image of Afghanistan by photographer Omar Mullick, from a portfolio that just launched on the Foreign Policy Web site. Mullick is part of a journalistic team called Basetrack, many of whose photos are taken with the iPhone’s Hipstamatic special-effects filters.  What’s so interesting in this series is that the filter Mullick chose makes photos of today’s Afghanistan look like images from fifty or even 100 years ago, mixing black and white and a hint of watery color.  I’m not sure you’d get away with such a collapsing of time in almost any other country. What I don’t know, is whether that’s because there’s a fundamental culture in Afghanistan that has stayed basically unchanged, or if we’ve bought into a Rudyard Kipling view of the place that we can’t jettison. Is Afghanistan static, or is it our vision that is? Can we afford any nostalgia in dealing with our mission there? The Daily Pic, along with more global art news, can also be found on the  Art Beast page at thedailybeast.com. Hipstamatic + Afghanistan = This. Hauntingly beautiful. 

newsweek:

blakegopnik:

Daily Pic: A recent image of Afghanistan by photographer Omar Mullick, from a portfolio that just launched on the Foreign Policy Web site. Mullick is part of a journalistic team called Basetrack, many of whose photos are taken with the iPhone’s Hipstamatic special-effects filters.  What’s so interesting in this series is that the filter Mullick chose makes photos of today’s Afghanistan look like images from fifty or even 100 years ago, mixing black and white and a hint of watery color.  I’m not sure you’d get away with such a collapsing of time in almost any other country. What I don’t know, is whether that’s because there’s a fundamental culture in Afghanistan that has stayed basically unchanged, or if we’ve bought into a Rudyard Kipling view of the place that we can’t jettison. Is Afghanistan static, or is it our vision that is? Can we afford any nostalgia in dealing with our mission there?

The Daily Pic, along with more global art news, can also be found on the  Art Beast page at thedailybeast.com.

Hipstamatic + Afghanistan = This. Hauntingly beautiful. 

(via cheatsheet)

“We cooperate and we fight as hard as we can, because there will perhaps be disappointment but there will be no shame.”

A specialist in the 655th TC, writing to Jon Stewart • In a letter Stewart mentioned on Monday’s episode of “The Daily Show.” Stewart used the episode to pay tribute to the soldiers fighting overseas after he paid a visit to Khandahar this past weekend. After displaying several t-shirts that he had promised to wear, he read some of his observations and thank yous. Stewart then read this quote from a letter from a young specialist, from one of the nicest letters he’s ever received. source (via • follow)