Sul progressivo deterioramento della situazione in Afghanistan e sulla necessità di una revisione della strategia esposta dal comandante statunitense generale Stanley A. McChrystal: il Corriere della Sera (qui una breve intervista ad O’Hanlon), la Repubblica, il Sole24ore, il New York Times, il Washington Post, il Times.

Il parere, piuttosto critico, di Stephen Walt:"These events all point to the central dilemma confronting our efforts in Afghanistan: we don’t understand the social and political dynamics there, the various actors involved have their own interests, loyalties, and agendas, the "government" — such as it is — is deeply corrupt, and we lack reliable instruments of leverage over many of the contending factions. As a result, virtually any step we take inevitably generates all sorts of unintended consequences (…)
This situation suggests that either we are pursuing the wrong objectives or we simply have no idea how to achieve them. What is needed is a much broader questioning of what we are doing over there, but questioning the mission itself wasn’t General McChrystal’s assignment. My guess is that a more fundamental rethinking will eventually take place, but not until more blood and treasure are expended."

Il 25 agosto, inoltre, si è tenuto presso la Brookings un seminario tra esperti dal titolo "Prospects for Afghanistan’s Future". Allego qui di seguito la trascrizione.

Aggiornamento: nel frattempo i talebani sono riusciti ad uccidere il vice direttore dell’intelligence afghana.