What Are We Doing in Afghanistan?
Image via WikipediaI’ll tell you but it’s off the record … The Deputy Ambassador of US Embassy Kabul, Frank Ricciardone was apparently over at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University recently for an evening lecture titled, “What Are We Doing in Afghanistan?” He sat down with The Herald staff writer Monique Vernon to talk about his life as a diplomat and about

Espionage Conspiracy: Myers Couple Pleads Guilty
Image by Kaptain Kobold via FlickrThe Department of Justice announced on November 20 that a former State Department Official and his wife have pleaded guilty in a 30-year espionage conspiracy: A former State Department official and his wife have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from their roles in a 30-year conspiracy to provide classified U.S. national defense information to

Ambassador Neumann on Corruption in Afghanistan
Image via Wikipedia "Corruption in Afghanistan has evolved over the years of war. Senior leaders taking a cut of projects may not be liked but the practice is long standing and has not traditionally sparked enormous discontent. But the years of warfare have produced a much more wide spread corruption in the society. When there is a pervasive sense of insecurity, when officials are not sure their

Reconsider the Role of the PRTs?
Image via WikipediaGilles Dorronsoro, a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace gave a testimony last week at the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Part of his testimony questions the role of the PRTs in Afghanistan; something that frankly, I have not heard brought up before. The prevailing wisdom seems

Happy Thanksgiving!
Video from MentalLapse