Author Says Afghanistan Would Have Been Successful Without Iraq

By Anna Cameron

During a conference call hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday, political scientist and author Dan Caldwell noted that the American mission in Afghanistan would have been much more effective had the United States not invaded Iraq in 2003.

“I definitely believe that the United States could have achieved its goals in Afghanistan much more quickly and much more effectively had we not invaded Iraq,” said Caldwell, who is also a distinguished professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University.

“In terms of the Afghan war, I think that one of the problems there…is taking the eye off the ball after the initial military success,” he added. “We moved resources, money and people from Afghanistan to Iraq, and I think that was one of the biggest mistakes.”

Caldwell’s latest book, entitled “Vortex of Conflict: U.S. Policy Toward Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq,” focuses on the historic and political elements of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - two conflicts he argues are integrally related.

More Americans Calling Afghan War A "Mistake"

A new Gallup poll shows that 43% of Americans surveyed say the decision to send U.S. troops to Afghanistan was a mistake. The poll was conducted following the leak of over 92,000 classified Afghan war documents dating from 2004 to 2009…

Obama Promises to Bring Iraq War to "Responisble End"

President Barack Obama spoke today in Atlanta to the Disabled American Veterans, an event effectively marking the end of combat operations in Iraq, which is officially set to end on August 31.  Obama praised the troops and asked the nation to show respect for their sacrifice.  The president emphasized that his administration has “brought more than 90,000 of our troops home from Iraq,” making good on his campaign promise to bring the war to a close.  However, as the war in Iraq winds down, the war in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly more deadly to American troops.  Obama asked for support for the war in Afghanistan, saying, “if Afghanistan were to be engulfed by an even wide insurgency, al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates would have even more space to plan their next attack,” and that “as President of the United States, I refuse to let that happen.”

-Philip Bunnell

Obama To Speak To Veterans On End of Iraq Combat Ops

President Obama will discuss the end of combat operations in Iraq during a speech to the organization Disabled American Veterans today in Atlanta.  Combat missions in Iraq end on August 31, but Obama will say that troops stationed there will still “face likely danger.”  The speech marks the scaling back of US prescense in one theater of operations, Iraq, and a sharp increase in another, Afghanistan.

by Philip Bunnell

July Deadliest Month For U.S. In Afghan War

As July comes to an end, it also marks the deadliest month ever for U.S. troops since the war in Afghanistan began, according to lcasualties.org. The three soldiers died in two separate blasts in southern Afghanistan Thursday, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Kabul. Sixty-six Americans have been killed in July so far.

Many of the explosives have also taken the lives of ordinary Afghans. It was reported on Wednesday (July 26) that at least 25 Afghans were killed and at least 20 more wounded when a civilian bus transporting passengers from Nimroz province in the south to Kabul drove over an IED. 

- Alexa Gitler