Rajiv Chandrasekaran

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Visitors walk by a flower installation during the International Festival of Flowers and Gardens in Baghdad on Thursday. (Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

Twenty years ago this month, as tens of thousands of U.S. troops prepared to storm into Iraq, the task of rebuilding and governing the soon-to-be-liberated country of some 25 million people fell to a few dozen Americans ensconced at a Hilton resort on the Kuwaiti beachfront. Some were military reservists with skills in civic administration. Others were long-serving officials or retired diplomats eager for one final tour of adventure. None of them, however, had a plan.

Because there wasn’t one.

The failure of President George W. Bush’s national security team to craft a detailed strategy for what to do once U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

There are still almost 80,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and each month brings a few dozen home in coffins — more than 2,000 since 2001. Hundreds more arrive on medical evacuation flights, many of them without a limb. The war will cost taxpayers more than $100 billion this year. The Taliban, which enjoys sanctuary in nuclear-armed Pakistan, continues to conduct devastating attacks on the Afghan government and the civilian population.

But you wouldn’t know any of it from listening to President Obama and Mitt Romney on the campaign trail. They may not agree on much, but when it comes to the decade-old conflict, they have adopted the same strategy on the stump: Say as little as possible — sometimes not a word — and quickly change the subject.…  Seguir leyendo »

Paul Jones arrived in a Chevy pickup, dust clouds billowing as he crossed the desert. He had set out soon after first light from his base in southern Afghanistan, an encampment that, thanks to his employer’s logistics savvy, had an ample supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Almost everything there had been sent by sea from California or Oregon, and then trucked up from Pakistan.

The 63-year-old, khaki-clad engineer came that February morning to observe a massive development project aimed at transforming the valley along the Helmand River into a modern society.

Irrigation canals would feed farms that would produce so much food that the country would export the surplus for profit.…  Seguir leyendo »