Afghanistan | The Diane Rehm Show

Flikr photo by MATEUS used under a Creative Commons license.   On Monday, PCR Project Codirector Karin von Hippel was on The Diane Rehm Show with Pentagon correspondent for McClatchy newspapers, Nancy Youssef, President of the Center for New American Security, John Nagl, and Pamela Constable, from the Washington Post in Pakistan.  The show focused on analysis of the security challenges posed by Afghanistan in terms of strategy, and more broadly U.S. national security.  When asked about the significance of the most recent, high-profile attacks coordinated by the Taliban in Kabul, Karin von Hippel responded: The Taliban is trying to prove that the international community and Afghan government cannot keep Afghans safe…  It is a long-term war of attrition.  We need to change some of the fundamental ways we operate in that country.  We need to be smarter with our troops, allies, and international development assistance, but it is a huge challenge in many respects.  Nagl responded: The security situation is not good.  The people of Kabul did not provide intelligence that this was going to happen.  The key to counterinsurgency is making the population feel safe to gather intelligence who the insurgents are.  We have a real problem on our hands.    Numerous reviews are ongoing or set to begin of U.S. government strategy and inter-agency coordination for the stabilization of Afghanistan.  When asked what the elements of a successful inter-agency review are, Karin von Hippel pointed out: First, we need to get our own civilian-military house in order, but we are not operating in vacuum.  We need to pull in the voices of our allies much more closely than we have so far. von Hippel also emphasized: An additional challenge is on the policing side.  The U.S. military is now training police in Afghanistan.  While we recognize it is extremely important, we are way behind where we need to be.  Police take the brunt of the attacks from the Taliban and we need to focus on the police rather than the army to keep communities safe.  Audio from the show is available online and addresses many of the big questions posed by Afghanistan, including why it has become such a problematic situation for the U.S.