Progress or Regress?

Progress or Regress? The Afghanistan War in Review

Friday, December 3, 2010  

Here’s hoping you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Aside from enjoying the holiday, it’s been an important week for ISW.

On Friday the 19^th, ISW hosted a thought-provoking panel discussion entitled ‘Progress or Regress? The Afghanistan War in Review’ at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC. ISW Chairman General Jack Keane (ret.) moderated the Afghanistan war discussion with guest panelists Ambassador Ronald Neumann (ret.), Shuja Nawaz and Max Boot. Comprehensive video is available courtesy of C-SPAN, so heat up some leftovers and watch here.  You can also read a transcript of the proceedings here.  "Bottom line, yes, there is progress. We should judge it. We should not try to judge things for which we do not yet have enough time and facts to judge, and as we move forward, we have to constantly go dig very, very deep," said Ambassador Ronald Neumann (ret.).

General Keane also appeared on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on the news that U.S. Marines will soon have the help of a company of tanks in southern Afghanistan. The first use of tanks in Afghanistan is part of a new strategy to exert more pressure on the Taliban.  “We’ve never been able to do that before, and that is making a difference. It’s beginning to erode the morale of the Taliban. It’s starting to break their will,” Keane said.

Last week, CNN’s Situation Room featured ISW Afghanistan analyst Carl Forsberg as he weighed in on recent news that the Afghan government has been meeting in secret with an imposter they believed to be Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, a top-ranking Taliban official. “It’s very revealing that nobody had ever actually met with or seen Mullah Mansour before,” said Forsberg. Watch the entire clip here.

In case you missed it, Senior Defense Fellow Lieutenant General James Dubik and ISW Deputy Director Marisa Cochrane Sullivan published a Backgrounder entitled "Iraq's Lessons for Transition in Afghanistan." This Backgrounder outlines the 6 key factors of a successful approach to security and government transition in Afghanistan.

To see photos of our latest event and get breaking ISW news, be sure to find us on Facebook and Twitter.