Afghanistan Mission Review

The Bush Administration recently named Afghanistan as a higher priority than in previous months, pulling together with NATO to begin a "top-to-bottom review of the entire mission." They will focus specifically on greater coordination in fighting, the astoundingly high opium production and finances of the insurgency, and helping legitimize Kabul. There has been a realization of how long term the Afghanistan endeavor really will take; the U.S. is helping to reconstruct a government, economy, and peoples' livelihood's--no easy, quick matter. We pointed out most of the conclusions--security, increased opium trade, and reconstruction efforts,--in our report, "The Breaking Point." The report was put out in March 2007 but many of the recommendations still stand; please read both our report and the NYTimes article detailing the recent view changes in the administration.

For fellow Afghanistan followers, experts, or anyone interested--on January 14th we are co-hosting an event with the Asia Foundation, presenting, "Afghanistan in 2007: A Survey of the Afghan People,” capturing the Afghan public’s perceptions of reconstruction, security, governance and poppy cultivation—as well as attitudes toward government and informal institutions, the role of women and Islam in society, and the impact of media.

Check back for more details!