CNAS and Other Four-Letter Words by Carl Prine, Line of Departure.
I was sojourning into the heart of Iraq’s Sunni Arab rebellion last week, which forced me to miss the unveiling of the latest policy brief on Afghanistan by the DC-based Center for a New American Security think tank.
“The Next Fight: Time for a Change of Mission in Afghanistan” is an odd document, and spare, coming in at a mere 5 ½ pages – seven, if you count footnotes. It’s authored by the former commander of coalition forces there — retired U.S. Army LTG David W. Barno– as well as Andrew Exum and Matthew Irvine.
I say that it’s an odd document because it basically contradicts much of the advice LTG Barno gave Congress only about 15 weeks ago and overturns Exum’s own 2009 report with COIN guru and monied defense contractor David Kilcullen’s “Triage: The Next 12 Months in Afghanistan.” …