NJ Topics Afghanistan War

National Journal Coverage
U.S. Marine in Afghanistan

How the Afghan Conflict Will Be Decided

Michael Hirsh | May 16, 2013
A horrific week for U.S. casualties reaffirms President Obama’s rush to rely on the Afghan army. But can they handle it?
Russia

What Moscow's Arrest Says About U.S.-Russia Relationship

James Kitfield | May 14, 2013
As the U.S. and Russia go through the motions of expelling each other’s “diplomats” in the coming days, it’s likely they will only be pawns in a much bigger game.
afghan

NATO’s Plan for Afghanistan Post-2014: A ‘Stable Instability’

Michael Hirsh | May 13, 2013
U.S., allies are talking about commitments through 2018 and beyond, says top commander.
John Kerry in Russia

Mitt Romney Was Right: Russia Is Our Biggest Geopolitical Foe

Michael Hirsh | May 7, 2013
Obama meets with South Korea’s president, but it’s Kerry’s sit-down with Putin that matters.   
Barack Obama

Insiders: Syrian Chemical Weapons Use Does Not Yet Justify U.S. Military Intervention

Sara Sorcher | May 6, 2013
Even though President Obama acknowledged chemical weapons use in Syria, nearly two-thirds of National Journal's National Security Insiders believe the American military should not yet intervene in the bloody fight against Bashar al-Assad.
Syria civil war

5 Charts Showing Why Americans Aren't Eager for Intervention in Syria

Elahe Izadi | May 3, 2013
President Obama is acting cautiously on Syria -- and Americans aren't feeling so hawkish, either.
President Barack Obama

Obama Is Still Fighting Bush's National Security Legacy

George E. Condon Jr. | April 30, 2013
The president's hesitance to intervene in Syria and eagerness to close Guantanamo Bay underscore how different he is from his predecessor.
Boston house crime scene

Were Boston Bombers Lone Wolves or Long Arm of al-Qaida?

James Kitfield | April 19, 2013
What pushed two seemingly normal young immigrants past the tipping point of youthful anger and into wanton terrorism?
Boston aftermath

In Boston as in Baghdad, Tragedy Cannot Be Ignored

Lara Jakes | April 18, 2013
Friends and colleagues ask why, and how, this was possible. Perhaps this is the way the world already is, and has been for some time.
Patty Murray

Slow-Motion Gun Battle Plays Out in Senate

Billy House | April 14, 2013
Lawmakers will stage some slow-going drama this week as the Senate proceeds in its deliberations on gun-control legislation with a series of votes on amendments—many of them likely to usher in their own mini-floor fights, or even filibusters.
Belogolova family

Why Washington and Moscow Still Don't Trust Each Other

Olga Belogolova | April 4, 2013
I left the USSR in 1991. Going back showed that Cold War stereotypes don’t fade—even with time.
stealth combat drone demonstrator Neuron

When the Whole World Has Drones

Kristin Roberts | March 21, 2013
The precedents the U.S. has set for robotic warfare may have fearsome consequences as other countries catch up.
Rand Paul

Why John McCain Doesn't Matter Anymore

James Kitfield | March 14, 2013
The GOP is now more open to isolationists and deficit hawks like Rand Paul than to traditional pro-defense Republicans.

National Security Insiders: It's Possible for Congress to Oversee Drone Program

Sara Sorcher | March 11, 2013
Plus: A narrow majority says Chuck Hagel will be a good Defense secretary.
MANDA BAY

Outsourcing the Fight Against Terrorism

James Kitfield | March 7, 2013
The United States is using local soldiers to fight al-Qaida allies in East Africa.
Afghanistan

How Obama Fumbled Afghanistan

Michael Hirsh | March 5, 2013
How Obama stymied his own special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, and fumbled the administration's Afghanistan policy.
Obama Cabinet Meeting

The 6 Species of Secretaries That Will Define Obama's Term

Matthew Cooper | March 5, 2013
The president has made most of his top administration picks. Here's how they all fit into his second term.
Sen. Rand Paul

Rand Paul: 'We Shouldn't Be Crisscrossing the Skies With Drones'

Sara Sorcher | February 28, 2013
The senator is concerned about the administration's use of drones for surveillance—and targeted killing—in the U.S.
Chuck Hagel

The Rehabilitation of Chuck Hagel

Michael Hirsh | February 28, 2013
Looking beyond the sequester, the new Pentagon chief plans a fast trip, and a focus on veterans.

Insiders: Yes, Sequestration Will Really Hurt U.S. National Security

Sara Sorcher | February 22, 2013
Insiders also support arming Syria's rebels.
AFghan Woman Wearing Burqa With Child

Fewer Afghan Civilians Are Being Killed, But Drones Are on the Rise

Matt Vasilogambros | February 19, 2013
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan released an annual report on the protection of civilians on Tuesday showing that while the number of civilian deaths in the conflict has decreased in the last year, there has been an increase in the number of deaths from drone strikes — a heated issue that has received greater attention in recent weeks, following CIA director nominee John Brennan's confirmation hearing.
Hagel

Chuck Hagel, Strategic Thinker

Michael Hirsh | February 19, 2013
It looks awfully likely that Chuck Hagel will squeak through confirmation as President Obama's Defense secretary. But it is also likely that he'll enter the Pentagon a damaged figure, a nominee tainted by the lingering impression that he is not ready to handle the vast complexities of a defense budget slated for slashing.
waterboarding

Is Obama's Drone Policy Really Morally Superior to Torture?

Sara Sorcher | February 14, 2013
Bush was condemned for waterboarding. But this administration kills from above.
Michelle Obama Waves DSC_9823

Here's Who You Think Should Sit With the First Lady for Obama's Speech

Matt Vasilogambros | February 11, 2013
We asked National Journal readers who they thought would get the coveted invite to the State of the Union address this year. Here are their suggestions.
U.S. Military Drones

How the U.S. Determines When to Kill One of Its Own Citizens

Matt Vasilogambros | February 5, 2013
The Department of Justice this week leaked its legal justification for drone strikes against Americans
Drone

Insiders: White House Should Develop Rules for Drone Program

Sara Sorcher | February 4, 2013
A strong 87 percent majority of National Journal's National Security Insiders say that the White House should develop formal rules for the drone program targeting terrorists overseas.
Drone Strike funueral

Targeted Killings: Obama’s Endless War

James Kitfield | January 31, 2013
Even as it pulls forces out of Afghanistan, the Obama administration wants to continue high-tech targeted killings in the war against terrorists.

Sobering Lessons for the Afghan Pullout in Paris Peace Accord Anniversary

James Kitfield and Sara Sorcher | January 25, 2013
Even as the Obama administration and the Afghan government are locked in intense negotiations over the terms of the withdrawal of U.S. troops after a decade of war, the United States is approaching a sobering milestone. January 27 will mark the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords ending America’s long war in Vietnam. By August of that year U.S. combat troops had pulled out of the country, though Washington continued to backstop South Vietnamese forces with airpower and other support.
Denis McDonough

A Guide to Obama's Staff Reshuffling

Caren Bohan | January 25, 2013
President Obama will tap Denis McDonough, a trusted longtime aide steeped in foreign policy and Capitol Hill experience, as his new chief of staff. Obama will announce the decision on Friday at 12:10 p.m. along with several other White House staff changes. The reshuffling is in keeping with Obama's management style of relying heavily on a tight inner circle of aides in his decision-making. Here is a look at the changes.
Syria Violence

Kerry’s Task: Closing the Arab ‘Pandora’s Box’

Michael Hirsh | January 24, 2013
His tenure at State may well be defined by how he handles a vast new jihadist haven.
Aerial of the Pentagon

Insiders: Go Ahead, Slash the Defense Budget

Sara Sorcher | January 21, 2013
Defense cuts may be on the table in a new fiscal-cliff deal, as the deadline to avoid sequestration is just weeks away. National Journal's National Security Insiders say: Go for it.
Obama gives Inauguration speech at the Capitol

Chastened by His Times, Obama Falls Short of History in Inaugural Address

Ron Fournier | January 21, 2013
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle," Obama tells both allies and rivals.
Obama and Karzai in Washington

The Rocky Times of Obama and Karzai

Matt Vasilogambros | January 10, 2013
President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are having lunch at the White House today for yet another frank discussion on America’s longest war.
Woman and Karzai poster

Can Obama and Karzai Avoid Iraq Redux?

James Kitfield | January 10, 2013
Friday's meeting will focus on the last two outstanding issues concerning America’s longest-ever war: how fast to withdraw the remaining troops, and what, if any, residual U.S. force to leave behind.
jessica chastain

What 'Zero Dark Thirty' Says About How Washington Works

Matthew Cooper | January 9, 2013
Yes, it's about war and waterboarding. But there's much more to Kathryn Bigelow's epic and Jessica Chastain's character. 
Chuck Hagel

The Neocons vs. Chuck Hagel

Michael Hirsh | January 9, 2013
The attacks on the Defense nominee reflect an old struggle—and a philosophy that’s in eclipse.
John Brennan and Chuck Hagel

Will Chuck Hagel and John Brennan Fight?

Michael Hirsh | January 7, 2013
Inside the future battle over targeted killing.
Former Senator Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel's Biggest Problem: He's Like President Obama

Ron Fournier | January 7, 2013
By nominating Chuck Hagel to be his Defense secretary, President Obama is putting forward an aloof contrarian who doesn’t suffer fools--a characteristic that closely describes the president himself.
John Boehner

The GOP's Failed 'Plan O': Inside the Fiscal-Cliff Saga

John Aloysius Farrell and Chris Frates and Nancy Cook and Billy House | January 2, 2013
This is the story of Plan O – the congressional Republicans’ failed attempt to meet the challenge of Obama’s victory. It begins in September and ends in the fiasco of the Christmas season, when Speaker John Boehner was repudiated by his own troops and had to pull his last, desperate solution from the House floor, leaving Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to cut the best deal he could with dramatically diminished leverage.
Chuck Hagel

In the 'War on Terror', Hagel Hasn't Gone with the Crowd

Michael Hirsh | December 27, 2012
The truth about Chuck Hagel is that he saw before most that America was embarking on an unparalleled strategic disaster.

Full Text: President Obama Nominates John Kerry as Secretary of State

National Journal Staff | December 21, 2012
The White House released a transcript Friday of President Obama's nomination of Senator John Kerry as Secretary of State. Read the full text below:
Kerry

Ambition and Anguish Drive John Kerry

Michael Hirsh | December 21, 2012
What kind of secretary of State will John Kerry be? The best answer to that question probably lies in something Kerry said 41 years ago, long before he became a politician—a statement that is still, unquestionably, the most memorable thing Kerry has ever said.
Hagel

With Hagel At Defense, What a Senate 'Team of Mentors' Might Mean for Obama's 2nd Term

Michael Hirsh | December 18, 2012
In the summer of 2008, while the two of them were on a trip to Afghanistan, then-Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., gave a bit of advice to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. "I told Obama he should pick [Joe] Biden as his running mate," Hagel recalled in a 2010 interview. "I said, 'He understands governance better than anyone else. In particular he understands Congress. He understands how it fits together like no one else you could get. He's got the political piece. He 's got the policy piece. There's nobody in his league.'"
Lighthouse

The People, Not Washington, Will Solve America's Everyday Problems

James Oliphant and Stacy Kaper and Catherine Hollander and Adam Mazmanian and James Kitfield and Ben Terris and Fawn Johnson | December 6, 2012
Beyond the fiscal cliff, entitlement reform, and a tax overhaul, a host of other issues continue to vex Americans. They include burgeoning traffic, the shrinking pool of affordable housing, escalating gun violence, and the rising invasion of online privacy.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Reinventing Iraq

March 22, 2003
A country called Iraq has existed only since 1919. But some cities in that land were already 16 centuries old when the nearby Egyptians built their pyramids. Bureaucrats in Mesopotamia, as the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was known, began keeping written records in 3400 B.C. And despite three decades of political repression, economic mismanagement, and military disaster under Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, Iraq today-unlike Afghanistan in 2001, Yugoslavia in 1995, and Germany in 1945-is not a "failed state." (See "Occupational Hazards," this issue.) From food-distribution systems to local police forces, essential institutions and infrastructures have survived Saddam, albeit barely, and they will survive a war that successfully ousts him. So the good news is that Iraq will not have to start over from scratch. Unfortunately, the bad news is also that Iraq will not be able to start over from scratch.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Collateral Damage

March 15, 2003
The first American war against Iraq, fought a dozen years ago, produced an overwhelming, if transitory, U.S. victory, while also popularizing several phrases that slipped almost lightheartedly into the world's lexicon. But if the U.S. military's new "smart bombs" helped make a mockery of Saddam Hussein's bluster about winning "the mother of all battles," there was nothing funny about "collateral damage," the Pentagon's time-honored euphemism for the killing and wounding of everyday Iraqi people with cruise missiles and airpower.
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