AFGHANISTAN WAR, RECONSTRUCTION
Summer 2013
Belfer Center Newsletter Summer 2013
Newsletter
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
The Summer 2013 issue of the Belfer Center newsletter features recent and upcoming activities, research, and analysis by members of the Center community on critical global issues. This edition highlights the Belfer Center’s expanding work on complex cybersecurity issues and Middle East challenges, offers reflections on the role of the U.S. in Iraq, and spotlights work being done by the Center and its affiliates on environment and energy issues.
Summer 2013
"Afghanistan’s Future Holds Promise, Danger, Experts Agree"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Even as they acknowledged that potential dangers loom in Afghanistan over the next two years, experts at a Harvard conference pointed to some encouraging signs. One example: the number of schoolchildren has grown from 800,000 in 2001 to nearly nine million today....Speakers from Afghanistan and the West recognized that violence persists and problems such as endemic corruption still plague the country....But they took solace from the work of Afghans themselves in building a credible national military force that has increasingly taken on the brunt of combat duties"
May 8, 2013
"Born Yesterday"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"...[T]here are many downsides to what has happened in Afghanistan. In my view, we should have stopped hostilities in Afghanistan when bin Laden and his al-Qaeda followers escaped into Pakistan in late 2001. But it is now more than 11 years later and way past time to get out."
April 8, 2013
"Take Burden off Veterans Affairs"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Juliette Kayyem, Lecturer in Public Policy
"Long-neglected computer upgrades are coming on line, but the VA's promises that the backlog will be overcome by 2015 seem specious given that 97 percent of all claims are still made in paper. Continued delays aren't only concerns for those who've already fought. They could discourage new recruits. The Defense Department is well aware that its ability to recruit troops to an all-volunteer force is made more difficult if veterans' services are being neglected."
March 20, 2013
"'Iran is the Main Beneficiary of the Iraq War'"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, The European
By Max Tholl and Stephen M. Walt, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Affairs; Faculty Chair, International Security Program
"Iran has always been a major power in that region. Under Saddam however, Iran and Iraq were bitter enemies who fought a long war and were strongly opposed to one another. There was almost a rough balance of power between the two countries. By reducing Iraq's power and by allowing the Shia to become the dominant political force in Iraq, the US removed the main country balancing Iran, and helped bring to power a government that has at least some sympathies and links to Iran. So, Iran is by far the main strategic beneficiary of the Iraq War, which made it even more difficult for the US and its allies to deal with the country."
March 13, 2013
"Is Peaceful Political Transition in Afghanistan Possible?"
Media Feature
By Robert Johnson, Jawed Nader, Matt Waldman, Research Fellow, International Security Program and Michael Keating
As the 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of international troops in Afghanistan looms, the speakers explored what is required to ensure a smooth transition and avoid a descent into chaos.
Matt Waldman Photo
January 25, 2013
"An Afghanistan Write-Off Isn't an Option"
Op-Ed, New York Times
By Michael Keating and Matt Waldman, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"Only Afghans can reconcile their differences. But the international community can play a critical role in creating the conditions in which this can happen. It should be rooted in ground realities and Afghan interests. It must ensure that international policies do not unwittingly intensify local or national power struggles or undermine stability."
January 16, 2013
"Afghanistan's Improving Ways"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"For Americans weary of nearly a dozen years of war, Afghanistan often seems like a country where nothing ever changes and the same story of ethnic and tribal struggle repeats itself in an endless loop. But Afghanistan’s demographics have changed in significant ways over the past decade. Rather than being mired in a perpetual feudal twilight, Afghanistan is actually becoming a modern country."
December 24, 2012
"Encouraging Signs Toward Peace in Afghanistan"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"In this season of good will, there is a rare bit of good cheer about the prospects for peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The reason seems to be that some Taliban leaders are concluding that they couldn’t win the civil war that might follow U.S. withdrawal of combat troops," writes David Ignatius for the Washington Post.
December 19, 2012
"Is Chuck Hagel the Right Pick for the Pentagon?"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By David Ignatius, Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
"The debate over whether Chuck Hagel should be appointed defense secretary has centered on his sometimes critical views of Israel. But that’s the wrong issue. The question is whether Hagel is the right person to run the Pentagon at a delicate moment of transition in defense policy and spending....Moreover, the defense secretary doesn’t set U.S. policy in the Middle East; the U.S.-Israeli alliance will remain solid regardless of who runs the Pentagon....The harder puzzle for the White House is whether Hagel would be the best manager during an important inflection point in Pentagon history."
" writes Belfer Center's David Ignatius.
