Notes: Data unavailable for some months in 2001 and 2002.Source: Department of Defense, White House. Credit: Credit: Alyson Hurt and JoElla Straley/NPR
Will Afghan Drawdown Spur U.S. Policy Rethink? -- Jackie Northam, NPR
President Obama's message to the nation last week was unequivocal: It was the beginning of the end for large-scale American military operations in Afghanistan.
Obama announced that 10,000 U.S. forces would be out by the end of this year. The drawdown would then steadily continue until 2014, when the U.S. would hand over security to Afghan forces. In other words, the U.S. is winding down the war in Afghanistan, much as it has the war in Iraq.
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
U.S. and Taliban Diverge on Meaning of Kabul Siege -- Wall Street Journal
Kabul Hotel Attack Demonstrates Taliban's Persistence -- Max Fisher, The Atlantic
Kabul hotel attack is down to political gameplay -- Bette Dam, The Guardian
Kabul attack: Is Afghanistan ready to take over NATO's security duties? -- Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor
The Kabul Intercontinental Attack: The Taliban's Clear Message -- John Wendle, Time
Taliban talks bombing -- Washington Times editorial
As US slowly withdraws from Afghanistan, regional neighbors should step up -- Walter Rodgers, Yahoo News/Christian Science Monitor
How the Taliban and America met in Munich -- Ahmed Rashid, Financial Times
How to depose Kadafi -- L.A. Times editorial
In Tunisia and Egypt, still waiting on real change -- Anne Applebaum, Washington Post
Why Cairo's Tahrir Square Is Heating Up Again -- Abigail Hauslohner, Time
Yet Again in Sudan -- Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
Analysis: Gandhi scion yet to prosper in heat of Indian politics -- Henry Foy, Scotsman
Washington's Favorite Terrorists -- Trita Parsi, Huffington Post
Obama Afghanistan War Policy to Shift to Covert, Drone Tactics -- International Business Times
Greece ties Europe in knots. Tiny nation's chaos threatens world's economic order. -- Rosemary Righter, Chicago Tribune
The new Rome is not the new Greece yet, but the US must look to its laurels -- Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian
Debt Woes: Could America Go the Way of Greece? -- Fareed Zakaria, Time
A Sober, Steady Hand: Robert Gates’ Legacy at the Pentagon -- Mark Thompson, Time
Robert Gates' last day at Pentagon: three reasons he'll be missed -- Anna Mulrine, Christian Science Monitor
Gates makes his exit -- Tom Mahnken, Shadow Government/Foreign Policy