These are the kind of moments that a more secure, self-confident country would use to justify a mass pullout, and never go near Afghanistan again. For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent [...]

At the same time that the US and NATO are explicitly setting the end date in Afghanistan later and later into the decade, a new poll from Quinnipiac shows that public support for the war has completely collapsed. A majority of Americans now opposed continued involvement in Afghanistan. The ideological lines on this issue are [...]

The US will formally unveil a plan to NATO that would extend US involvement in Afghanistan through 2014. The transfer of security to the Afghans would begin over the next 18-24 months. This is predicated on the Afghans actually being able to create a security force that would take the lead against their homegrown insurgency. [...]

Dexter Filkins outlines a cruel to be kind approach the military has adopted in Afghanistan: Airstrikes on Taliban insurgents have risen sharply here over the past four months, the latest piece in what appears to be a coordinated effort by American commanders to bleed the insurgency and pressure its leaders to negotiate an end to [...]

This is a big hoocoodanode. Evidence is mounting that fraud in last weekend’s parliamentary election was so widespread that it could affect the results in a third of provinces, calling into question the credibility of a vote that was an important test of the American and Afghan effort to build a stable and legitimate government. [...]

The topline US reports on the Afghan parliamentary elections will strike a narrative flourish about ordinary citizens braving bomb threats and rocket attacks to reach the polls and perform their civic duty. You can bet that will be mirrored in the President’s statement on the elections later today. Remember the purple fingers? So let’s go [...]

Quite a scene in downtown Kabul today: Fears over the future of ailing Kabul Bank grew violent Wednesday as state police beat back crowds of frustrated Afghan government workers attempting to withdraw their salaries on the final day before a four-day national holiday. More than 500 government employees, including local police officers, Afghan National Army [...]

The more I read about Kabul Bank, the more I get depressed about our presence in Afghanistan. As near as I can tell, the executives at the bank, many of whom had multiple links to the ruling government (Karzai’s brother has a 7% stake), decided to massively over-speculate in luxury properties in Dubai with depositor [...]

NBC News found one Afghan spokesman willing to corroborate Marine Commandant James Conway’s assertion that the announcement of a timetable to leave Afghanistan – something that hasn’t happened – was bolstering the Taliban. The Obama administration’s plan to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011 is giving a morale boost to the [...]

Christiane Amanpour proved why, contra Tom Shales, she is a breath of fresh air in Sunday talk by having an actual newsmaker on her program yesterday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai. And he defended his presidential decree to dispel all private contractors from the country within four months, by saying they engage in “Mafia-like” activity: “The [...]

After Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered twin warnings to the United States and NATO in the past few days, calling for a full review of the war effort and decreeing the removal of all private security contractors from the country, it was expected that the US would return with a message of their own. John [...]