National Security -- The New Af-Pak Strategy

April 1, 2009

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Matt Duss

NATIONAL SECURITY

The New Af-Pak Strategy

Last Friday, President Obama announced his new plan for Afghanistan, in which he will add 4,000 more troops -- in addition to the 17,000 announced in February -- to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" the al Qaeda network in Afghanistan and Pakistan "and to prevent their return to either country in the future." The new troops will focus on training and augmenting Afghanistan's police and military, with the goal of increasing the size of the Afghan army from 83,000 to 134,000 by 2011. The result of an intense process of policy review launched by the president immediately upon taking office, the plan represents a significant shift in America's perception of national security. Rather than focusing efforts solely on the military side of the conflict, the President's new policy also adds hundreds of civilian advisers -- including experts in agriculture, education, and law -- who will "concentrate on improving life for ordinary Afghans." Additionally, the plan includes an increased regional focus, recognizing that stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot be obtained without the consultation and cooperation of other countries in the region.

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME: For years, the war in Afghanistan has been a casualty of the war in Iraq. By diverting troops and resources to Iraq, the Bush administration allowed the Taliban to re-establish themselves in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas, and Afghanistan steadily collapsed back into insurgent warfare. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) stated yesterday, "[W]e have under-resourced Afghanistan for too long, we took our eye off the ball when we went into Iraq. All of our resources were devoted to that effort." Having failed to complete the mission in Afghanistan, the Bush administration handed the new president a war that promises to be as difficult and costly as Iraq has been. The number of Afghan civilian deaths "jumped by almost 40 percent over a one-year period, according to a United Nations survey, from 1,500 in 2007 to more than 2,000 in 2008." As with his choice of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Israeli-Arab peace process, President Obama signaled early on his intention to make Afghanistan one of his administration's highest priorities by appointing skilled diplomat Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to the conflict.

THE CHALLENGE OF PAKISTAN: According to Brian Katulis and Peter Juul of the Center for American Progress, the President's Pakistan strategy "represents an even starker shift from the Bush administration’s policies." By including both Afghanistan and Pakistan in Holbrooke's portfolio, the President's new policy acknowledges that dealing with instability in Afghanistan requires attention to growing instability in neighboring Pakistan, where the Taliban and al Qaeda currently have sanctuary. Pakistan faces a serious challenge from domestic religious extremists, who have carried out a number of attacks in recent weeks, including an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in early March, and a spectacular raid on a police station earlier this week. Commenting on the policy review process, journalist Steve Coll wrote that "for the first time in decades, the entire American foreign policy and national security system -- the uniformed military, the State Department, the N.S.C. -- really bore down on the problem of Pakistan, in all of its daunting complexity." Katulis and Juul wrote that "the Obama administration has rightly chosen to view the militancy problem in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single, unified challenge that can only be solved through coordinated action in both countries."

AN OPENING TO IRAN?: Yesterday, delegates from 70 nations gathered in The Hague to discuss reconstruction in Afghanistan, and the ways that NATO and other international partners could contribute to greater stability there. One notable participant was Afghanistan's neighbor Iran. On the sidelines of the conference, Ambassador Holbrooke conversed briefly with Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzade, the highest-level contact between the United States and Iran in nearly four decades. Though Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had no contact with Iranian representatives, she told reporters that "the United States handed the Iranian delegation a letter requesting its intercession in the cases of two American citizens who are being held in Iran and another who is missing." It is thought possible that securing cooperation with Iran in an area of mutual interest -- stability in Afghanistan -- may provide an opening for broader negotiations in the future, something Obama has made clear that he would like to undertake. As he indicated while a presidential candidate, Obama's new approach to the conflict in Afghanistan is an attempt to bring all elements of U.S. power to bear upon America's national security challenges.

ETHICS -- DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST TED STEVENS: The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today that it will dismiss the charges against former Alaska senator Ted Stevens -- who was "convicted of seven counts of making false statements on Senate ethics forms to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and work on his Alaska home" -- due to prosecutorial misconduct. "In a three-page memo filed this morning in U.S. District Court, Justice Department lawyer Paul M. O'Brien, who was brought on to review the case, said he discovered evidence that prosecutors did not turn over notes from an interview in April 2008 with the case's key witness, Bill Allen," a close friend of Stevens who gave gifts to the senator. "After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial," Attorney General Eric Holder explained in a statement this morning. "I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial." Holder reportedly wanted to send the message that "misconduct by prosecutors would not be tolerated" under his tenure. Stevens's defense team had previously accused the prosecution of hiding evidence favorable to the defense, attempting to keep a witness from testifying, and redacting exculpatory evidence from witness transcripts -- actions that led to a contempt citation and an admonishment from the judge.

ENVIRONMENT -- REPUBLICANS FALSELY CLAIM CLIMATE LEGISLATION WOULD IMPOSE $3,100 TAX ON FAMILIES: Congressional Republican leaders such as Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are attacking the cap-and-trade proposal before Congress by claiming that it would "cost every American family up to $3,100 per year in higher energy prices." However, their objections are based on a bogus statistic. It appears that they are getting this number from an intentional misinterpretation of a 2007 study performed by a group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In an interview with PolitiFact, MIT professor John Reilly -- one of the authors of the 2007 study -- said the $3,100 tax claim is "wrong in so many ways it’s hard to begin." "Someone from the House Republicans had called me (March 20) and asked about this," Reilly said. "I had explained why the estimate they had was probably incorrect and what they should do to correct it, but I think this wrong number was already floating around by that time." In fact, the study had actually determined that the net welfare effect on a typical family and the burden would be less than 1/40th what Mitchell and Boehner claim, and wouldn't occur until 2015. PolitiFact explained: "The report did include an estimate of the net cost to individuals, called the 'welfare' cost. It would be $30.89 per person in 2015, or $79 per family if you use the same average household size the Republicans used of 2.56 people."

EDUCATION -- SANFORD: IT WOULD BE 'FISCAL CHILD ABUSE' TO ACCEPT STIMULUS EDUCATION FUNDS: Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) is waging a politically-motivated, ideological war against President Obama's stimulus plan, insisting on refusing $700 million in sorely needed aid for his state, most of which is for education. Appearing on Glenn Beck's Fox News show yesterday, Sanford claimed that accepting the funds would be "fiscal child abuse." "Since those costs will be borne by the next generation, in fact it is sort of fiscal child abuse to do what we're doing," Sanford said. In fact, it is Sanford's political posturing that is harming students in South Carolina. The state's Department of Education said that as many as 7,500 teachers could be negatively affected by Sanford's refusal to accept the funding; a state legislator said that 4,000 teachers would immediately lose their jobs. "But this extra $700 million -- there's so many needs in so many areas," Pete Pillow, an Education Department spokesman, told The Progress Report. If Sanford doesn't accept the funds, he said, "then we're in a real world of hurt." Indeed, the State newspaper reported today that Sanford's refusal could cost schools in the Midlands area of South Carolina $20 million collectively. "That means Lexington-Richland 5 school district, for example, which already planned to eliminate 62 jobs, would have to cut up to an additional 35 positions."

The special congressional election in New York between Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco is too close to call, "with the two candidates separated by just 59 votes and a lengthy process of awaiting and counting absentee ballots set to begin." It "might be mid-April before the race is settled," notes Politico.

Fifty-six percent of the American public still believe the war in Afghanistan is worth fighting, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Fifty-one percent believe that the United States should focus "more on defeating the Taliban military," and people are evenly divided on whether or not progress is being made in the war.

"I think of you as a goon," David Letterman told Bill O'Reilly last night. "You're too smart to believe what you say." O'Reilly tried to distinguish himself from fellow hatemongers Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck by claiming that he's a journalist. "I got a degree I paid a lot of money for. ... I went out, covered stories. ... {T]hose guys are basically entertainers. ... [W]e give information."

President Obama is planning to begin negotiations with Russia today for a new nuclear arms control treaty. Both American and Russia officials "privately indicated that they could agree to reducing their stockpiles perhaps to about 1,500 warheads apiece, down from the 2,200 allowed under a treaty signed by President George W. Bush."

In a reverse of Bush administration policy, the Obama administration has announced that the United States "will seek a seat on the United Nations' Human Rights Council," saying that "working from within was the most effective means of altering the council’s habit of ignoring poor human rights records of member states."

"Momentum among Democrats is growing to use special budget rules to push major healthcare reform this year through the Senate with a simple majority." Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), who are possible members of a House-Senate conference committee, refused yesterday to rule out the use of reconciliation, which would prevent the use of a filibuster to block health reform.

Former Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley "is heading to the U.S. Institute of Peace -- the congressionally created and funded outfit that focuses on international conflict management, as a senior adviser for global affairs." Hadley will co-chair a working group on the Middle East with former Clinton national security adviser Samuel R. Berger.

And finally: Happy April Fool's Day, from the Guardian.

"The early federal stimulus money appears to be hitting its target, paying for new projects and creating jobs," reports USA Today. "Shovel-ready" projects across the country are being initiated, which "wouldn't have occurred this year without stimulus money."

THINK PROGRESS: After flip-flopping on recovery package, Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) suggests he might support President Obama's budget.

WONK ROOM: Conservatives falsely assert that green economy legislation would impose $3,100 tax on families.

YGLESIAS: Higher skill-levels may mean slower economic recovery.

TPM DC: Rasmussen polls on non-existent "global currency" issue, before admitting it's a non-existent issue.

MISSOURI: Gov. Jay Nixon (D) "continues to pursue his campaign promise to expand health coverage for Missouri's uninsured."

VIRGINIA: Gov. Tim Kaine (D) proposes an "expansion and extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance and food stamps for out-of-work Virginians that would allow the state to receive an additional $125 million in federal stimulus funds."

SOUTH CAROLINA: "State Attorney General Henry McMaster issued a nonbinding legal opinion that the legislature cannot bypass Gov. Mark Sanford in obtaining $700 million in federal stimulus funds."

"I'm being criticized for a position that I never advocated."
-- Former Pentagon official Douglas Feith, 3/30/09, on charges that he advocated for torture

VERSUS

"I asked again: Under the Geneva Conventions, no one at Guantánamo was entitled to any protection? 'That's the point,' Feith reiterated."
-- British law professor Philippe Sands, May 2008

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