Free Range International

There were two interesting articles in the news concerning Afghanistan today which illustrate (to me) the dire straits we now face. One article reported on the clever use of Viagra by CIA case officers; the other was a mildly negative critique of the US AID reconstruction efforts made by a senior US AID officer. [...]

This will be a long post because the topic is important requiring that I be 100% clear concerning my observations, recommendations and opinions. In previous posts I have made my case regarding the speed and efficiency with which we are conducting stability operations in Afghanistan. I believe our reconstruction efforts are flawed; we are wasting [...]

Editors Note: This post is written by Amy Sun who is the MIT team leader for the Jalalabad FabLab (and many other of the FabLabs around the world too.) It was on her blog which targets the small group of people who are interested in this sort of thing and designed to produce funding leads. [...]

Recently the Pentagon released a Department of Defense Directive on Irregular Warfare. This has been greeted with a few articles in the press and much discussion amongst the various players on the ground in Afghanistan. When you see documents that say “The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff shall” that is a powerful piece [...]

For the past five years I have listened intently to the senior generals, politicians, and U. S. State Department officials as they tell the world that the most important thing to be done in Afghanistan is reconstruction and the rehabilitation of infrastructure. In countries where a majority of the population is illiterate actions speak much [...]