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The Military’s Role in Obama’s Afghanistan Policymaking
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* The role of the military in foreign policymaking in the Obama Administration Introduction The decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan under the Obama administration was the result of a highly contentious and intricate policymaking process. Within this process, a clear division emerged between five distinct groups: the Vice-President, the…
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How Obama’s ‘Inner Circle’ Shaped Foreign Policy Decisions
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* ‘Tension between the White House staffers and the Pentagon got worse, with NSC staff feeling stonewalled when it came to getting information in a timely fashion and Gates quietly fuming over what he considered to be the NSC’s constant micromanagement. The bad blood even spilled over into relationships within departments.’…
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Jones, Blair, and Holbrooke: Outsiders in Obama’s War Cabinet
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction President Barack Obama’s policymaking team for the decision to surge (and, in most cases, for the decision to withdraw) US troops in Afghanistan could be divided into five: the Vice-President, ‘the inner circle’, ‘the outsiders’, the General David Petraeus camp, and the President himself. Each, and its influence on…
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Vice President Biden’s Role in Obama’s Afghanistan Policy
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* The role of the Vice-President Biden in foreign policy in the Obama Administration ‘Listen to me, boss…Maybe I’ve been around this town for too long, but one thing I know when these generals are trying to box in a new president…Don’t let them jam you.’[1] Vice-President Biden to President Obama…
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Conflicting Assumptions in Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* ‘After reading McChrystal’s sixty-six-page assessment, I shared Joe’s skepticism. As far as I could tell, there was no clear exit strategy; under McChrystal’s plan, it would take five to six years just to get U.S. troop numbers back down to what they were now. The costs were staggering, at least…
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Military Counterarguments in Obama’s War Cabinet: Af-Pak Review
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* ‘Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs, and David Petraeus all endorsed McChrystal’s COIN strategy in its entirety; anything less, they argued, was likely to fail and would signal a dangerous lack of American resolve to friends and foes alike. Hillary and Panetta quickly followed suit.’[1] President Obama Introduction In the complex…
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The Biden Camp’s Opposition to the Afghanistan Surge
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* ‘Joe and a sizable number of NSC staffers viewed McChrystal’s proposal as just the latest attempt by an unrestrained military to drag the country deeper into a futile, widely expensive nation-building exercise, when we could and should be narrowly focused on counterterrorism (CT) efforts against al-Qaeda.’[1] President Obama Introduction In…
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Obama faces a divided public opinion over the decision to surge in Afghanistan
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* The Afghanistan War (and the Iraq War) had ‘left our unity on national security issues in tatters, and created a highly polarised and partisan backdrop for’ their effort to fight terrorism.[1] President Obama (and Secretary of Defense Gates) Introduction On December 1, 2009, President Barack Obama announced a critical…
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“They attacked our temples, stoned our cremations, grabbed our land and harassed our women. There’s only so much we could tolerate. Ninety-nine per cent of our community have left their country” – 36
Chapter Thirty-Six Another reality grabbed my attention. As we drove outside of Kabul, I noticed my watan and my people had picked up the colour of dust: the giant mountains, the tunnels, the mud houses; the lone shops covered in piles of green and yellow melons as well as plastic bags of apples; the…
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‘“A traditional woman” was what was on his lips. Now he abandons the traditional woman in Kabul and gets married in England. I don’t understand the logic of this” – Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five ‘“Traditional jelai” was what was on his lips. Now he abandons the traditional jelai in Kabul and gets married in England. I don’t understand the logic of this.” Nazigul whispered that there were ‘people’ waiting in the lounge. A man in a qaraqul hat with two armed men greeted me as I…