surge news stories on Newser

Obama Buying Time With Afghan Surge

Kevin Spak — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:43:00 CST

Barack Obama intends to sign off on a Pentagon plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports, but not because anyone believes this new “surge” will turn around the failing war effort. Obama’s team expects the move, which will nearly double US presence in the...

Bush Made Pact With This Man: Arab Sources

Nick McMaster — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:31:01 CDT

Secret cooperation between Iran and the Bush administration may be behind the success of the Iraq surge, which has played heavily in "John McCain’s rise from the ashes," writes Salameh Nematt in the Daily Beast. Arab intelligence sources say such a “Grand Bargain” has been reached and is the reason...

Petraeus' Iraq Strategy Is Ill-Suited to Afghanistan

Nick McMaster — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:55:01 CDT

Gen. David Petraeus faces an uphill battle in replicating the successes of the Iraq surge in Afghanistan, Michael Evans writes in the Times of London, “because the economic, social and political conditions are so different.” Afghanistan doesn’t have nearly the natural, fertile resources, and neither the US nor NATO allies...

US Doomed in Afghanistan: British Envoy

Nick McMaster — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:11:03 CDT

The British ambassador to Afghanistan believes “the American strategy is destined to fail,” the Telegraph reports, based on a leaked memo written by a French diplomat. In the memo, the French diplomat records statements by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles at a Sept. 1 meeting in which the British envoy said increasing...

Bush Pulled Rank on Military Over Surge

Ambreen Ali — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:14:34 CDT

In the months leading up to the Iraq surge, President Bush faced a revolt by frustrated Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Washington Post ’s Bob Woodward writes in a new book, The War Within . Bush dumped the military leaders’ advice as Iraq spun out of control in fall of 2006,...

Will an Afghan Surge Work? Skeptics See Trouble

Ambreen Ali — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:10:01 CDT

McCain and Obama rarely agree on foreign policy, but both are pushing for a mini-surge of about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan to rein in the Taliban. Will the Iraq model work here? The mountainous terrain, raging US suspicion, a porous border with Pakistan, and the challenge of telling apart...

Leaving Iraq, Petraeus Sees Gains as Fragile

Jason Farago — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:37:02 CDT

David Petraeus is leaving Iraq after 18 months, and by all measures the country is far safer than when he arrived. The "surge" of 30,000 extra American soldiers was bolstered by major domestic developments, from the Muqtada al-Sadr ceasefire to the rise of Sunni awakening councils. But in an...

Forget a Surge: Afghanistan Isn't Worth 'Saving'

Jason Farago — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:23:35 CDT

Barack Obama and John McCain have strong disagreements over Iraq, but on Afghanistan they agree: a troop surge is necessary. Nearly 60% of Americans agree, as does the defense secretary, Robert Gates. There's just one problem, writes Bartle Breese Bull in the New York Times : even with a costly surge,...

Brzezinski Down on Idea of Afghan 'Surge'

Jonas Oransky — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:25:32 CDT

The presidential candidates seem to agree that Afghanistan needs a troop surge, but Zbigniew Brzezinski doesn’t. Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, now a Barack Obama backer, says he's concerned that the US is “literally running the risk of unintentionally doing what the Russians did,” and being perceived as an invading...