Archive for February, 2006

The waiting game

A stronger Taliban lies low, hoping the U.S. will leave Afghanistan

For the 18,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the appearance of victory could be a recipe for defeat. American commanders in Afghanistan …

Read more ›

Survival strategy

Middle Eastern Islam, Darwin and terrorism

As the Christmas holiday approached, it was time to talk about terrorism. I spent part of a December afternoon in a sterile conference room symbolic of …

Read more ›

Dis-integration

Is private management of big defense programs out of control?

The U.S. military foresees a future where its enemies are watched by a network of sensors that feed targeting information to a …

Read more ›

Rising star

What does China’s economy mean for U.S. strategy?

Did you know that 220 billion text messages were sent over mobile phones in China last year? Or that one in 10 American jobs …

Read more ›

To the U.S. Army

For not being “an institution at war.” Our reporting here is anecdotal, to be sure, but the pile of war stories is immense from soldiers and commanders deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan …

Read more ›

To the Dutch

For alliance solidarity. AFJ understands that NATO is supposed to be a big, happy and victorious family in Afghanistan, but sometimes the truth intrudes. The Dutch, for example, are complaining that this …

Read more ›

al-Qaida in southern Africa

The emergence of a new front in the war on terrorism

Although the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001, did not start the deterritorialization of al-Qaida, it certainly accelerated the …

Read more ›

In this issue

This month’s AFJ marks an initial appearance on these pages by Michael Vickers, whose primary paycheck comes from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C., but whose background makes …

Read more ›

What the QDR should say

The Quadrennial Defense Review must stimulate long-term change

The report summarizing the work of the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review will be sent to Congress on Feb. 6. I’ve spent a lot of …

Read more ›