Archivo etiqueta «Conflicto armado»
By Gordon M. Goldstein, the author of Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18/10/09):
President Obama recently told Congressional leaders something many of them did not want to hear. It was time to “dispense with the straw man argument that this is about either doubling down or leaving Afghanistan,” he is said to have declared, frustrating those on both sides of the aisle who have sought to portray the choices in Afghanistan as just such a simplistic dichotomy.
While the president continues to analyze his military options with senior … Seguir leyendo
By Lewis Sorley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and the author of A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 18/10/09):
As President Obama and his advisers contemplate a new course for Afghanistan, many commentators are suggesting analogies with earlier conflicts, particularly the war in Vietnam. Such comparisons can be useful, but only if the characterizations of earlier wars are accurate and lessons are appropriately applied.
Vietnam is particularly tricky. While avoiding the missteps made there is of course a priority, few seem aware of the many successful … Seguir leyendo
By Robert A. Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and the author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 15/10/09):
As President Obama and his national security team confer this week to consider strategies for Afghanistan, one point seems clear: our current military forces cannot win the war. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander there, has asked for 40,000 or more additional United States troops, which many are calling an ambitious new course. In truth, it is not new and it is not bold enough.
America … Seguir leyendo
Por Jesús Núñez Villaverde, codirector del Instituto de Estudios sobre Conflictos y Acción Humanitaria, IECAH (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 14/10/09):
Cuando se acaban de cumplir ocho años desde el inicio de la campaña militar contra el binomio talibanes/Al-Qaida, con Afganistán como escenario principal, se impone la idea de que nada sustancial ha cambiado para mejor. El país, sumido en la violencia al menos desde 1979, no ha podido encarar una senda de reconstrucción en ningún ámbito de la vida nacional y la inseguridad es una realidad inesquivable para sus más de 25 millones de habitantes. Su Gobierno, en manos de … Seguir leyendo
By Svante Cornell, a research director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road studies programme (THE GUARDIAN, 13/10/09):
The release of a much anticipated EU-commissioned report into the causes of the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008 predictably spread the blame for the conflict around. Georgia got its share of the blame, but the text of the report is devastating to Russia’s narrative of the conflict.
Assisted by a small army of experts, Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini has spent close to a year investigating the origins of a small war that shocked Europe, but that was largely forgotten in … Seguir leyendo
By Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Thomson, the commander officer of 2 Rifles (THE TIMES, 13/10/09):
Both parents were inconsolable. They stood at the front gate of my patrol base in Wishtan, Sangin, and pleaded for help to find their child. We could give no satisfaction — their six-year-old daughter had stood on a Taleban pressure-pad IED (improvised explosive device); there was nothing left of the poor child. The parents continued to plead — a small part of her broken body would suffice. They had to have something to bury. The 2 Rifles Battle Group know about grief: we have seen friends … Seguir leyendo
Por Gérard Chaliand, écrivain et géostratège (LE MONDE, 13/10/09):
Un an après son élection, Barack Obama, qui avait désigné l’Afghanistan comme un axe majeur de sa politique étrangère, est confronté au choix d’une stratégie tenant compte de la situation sur le terrain et de son opinion publique.
Ce dilemme résulte d’une constante dégradation de la situation en Afghanistan, de la montée en puissance des oppositions armées et de la lassitude d’une opinion publique dans un pays en crise face à un conflit sans fin prévisible et dont les buts de guerre sont mal perçus. Le fait qu’Hamid Karzaï cherche … Seguir leyendo
Por Charles Krauthammer, politólogo, economista y columnista de The Washington Post (EL MUNDO, 12/10/09):
El rasgo distintivo de la democracia es la alternancia de poder, que obliga a la oposición a ser consecuente -sobre todo en asuntos tan graves como la guerra, en lo que los demócratas han sido decididamente inconsecuentes-.
Cuando la guerra de Irak -a favor de la que votaron la mayoría de los demócratas del Senado- empezó a pintar bastos y las bajas empezaron a crecer, los demócratas se guiaron por los cambiantes vientos de la opinión pública y se volvieron decididamente pacifistas. Pero necesitados de … Seguir leyendo
Por Enrique Fojón, profesor del Instituto Universitario Gutiérrez Mellado (ABC, 12/10/09):
Desde la llegada de la nueva Administración demócrata americana a principios de año, la guerra de Afganistán ha pasado al primer plano de la actualidad. La polémica desatada por la oportuna filtración del informe McChrystal al «Washington Post» está levantando una gran polvareda en el ámbito político norteamericano con sus secuelas en la Alianza Atlántica.
El debate en la prensa de Estados Unidos es encendido, ya que se ha pasado de una simple «reconsideración estratégica», a un percibido enfrentamiento entre el presidente y su general en la zona … Seguir leyendo
By Michael Evans, Defense editor (THE TIMES, 08/10/09):
Public rows between the military and their political bosses are seldom edifying and usually only stir up resentment. As a rule, generals do not take kindly to having their advice rejected by politicians, and ministers dislike being told what to do by a man in a well-pressed uniform and polished shoes.
Thus the spat between General Sir Richard Dannatt, who recently retired as Chief of the General Staff, and No 10 over troop numbers in Afghanistan is dangerous. We are in extraordinary times. This country has been engaged in two wars … Seguir leyendo
Por Gustavo de Arístegui (EL MUNDO, 08/10/09):
Conviene de una vez por todas que llamemos a las cosas por su nombre. Es esencial que los españoles sepamos qué está ocurriendo en Afganistán, qué nos jugamos y cuál sería el precio de la retirada-derrota. El peor error que se puede cometer en cualquier conflicto en el que uno se enfrenta a un enemigo tenaz y sin escrúpulos es errar en el análisis de sus verdaderas intenciones, creer que tenemos delante odio racional, pero sin estrategia. A lo que nos enfrentamos es a un odio irracional con una perfecta y terrorífica estrategia … Seguir leyendo
By Nino Burjanadze, a former speaker of the Georgian parliament and was twice, in that capacity, acting President of Georgia (THE GUARDIAN, 07/10/09):
Analogies between Georgia and the states of western Europe are difficult to maintain: it is precisely because the Euro-Atlantic community has reached a maturity in its mutual relationships that so many of us in Georgia want to be part of it.
But bear with me, please, on this.
Imagine if, last year, Britain and Spain had gone to war over Gibraltar and a report commissioned by the European Union into the conflict had just been published. … Seguir leyendo
THE NEW YORK TIMES, 04/10/09:
1.- Reform or Go Home.
By David Kilcullen, a former adviser to Gen. David Petraeus and the author of The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One.
Counterinsurgency is only as good as the government it supports. NATO could do everything right — it isn’t — but will still fail unless Afghans trust their government. Without essential reform, merely making the government more efficient or extending its reach will just make things worse.
Only a legitimately elected Afghan president can enact reforms, so at the very least we … Seguir leyendo
By Nushin Arbabzadah, who brought up in Kabul during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (THE GUARDIAN, 01/10/09):
They parted ways but not without a smile, and a friendly squeeze of the arm. The atmosphere was relaxed. “Give me a Kalashnikov,” said the Talib. And without complaining, the policeman took the gun from his shoulder and handed it to the Talib.
The rest of the video showed a larger group of policemen and Taliban chatting and milling around together amid what seems to have been a larger handing over of weapons. This surreally sociable encounter between what are meant … Seguir leyendo
Por Heidi Tagliavini, embajadora suiza y jefe de la Misión Internacional de Investigación del Conflicto en Georgia (EL PAÍS, 01/10/09):
Por la decisión adoptada el 2 de diciembre de 2008, el Consejo de la Unión Europea encargó a una Misión Internacional Independiente de Investigación que investigara el conflicto de agosto de 2008 en Georgia. El Consejo me nombró Jefe de la Misión de Investigación, y dejó en mis manos todos los trámites y decisiones relativas a los métodos de funcionamiento. Ya hemos concluido nuestro trabajo y remitido el informe al Consejo, a las partes en conflicto, a la Organización para … Seguir leyendo