|
|
As the U.S. begins pulling troops out of Afghanistan, is Pakistan going to be a help or a hindrance to stability in the region? John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security and your Battlelander discuss the issue with Dr. Nora Bensahel, counter-insurgency expert with CNAS, and Dave Barno, retired Army lieutenant general and commander of U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan in 2003-2004.
President Obama’s goal at the NATO summit this week is looking increasingly clear: wrap up U.S. troops’ combat role over the coming year, and get the allies to pay more money to enable the Afghan military to fill the gap.
The House has approved a $643 billion defense-spending bill for 2013 that’s $3.7 billion more than the Obama Administration, and its Pentagon, is seeking. That’s just about the same amount the Congressional Budget Office estimates the House bill’s push for an East Coast missile shield will cost over the next five years.
Whenever federal bureaucrats running the nation’s parks get antsy that their purse is likely to shrink, they roll out something long known as the “Washington Monument strategy.” That’s the tried-and-true technique of warning the public that if money isn’t forthcoming, one of the first budget cuts will force the shutting down of the popular obelisk to Washington, D.C., tourists.
