When he takes office today, Barack Obama will inherit a situation in Afghanistan that is growing increasingly complex. Mr. Obama has made success in the war there a key element of his foreign policy, so it's important for the new administration to understand the current facts on the ground. American policy there is due for a rethink.

Since 2007, the war in Afghanistan has undergone a dramatic shift, from large-scale attacks to more asymmetric terrorist assaults and roadside ambushes. Pro-Taliban militants attack those perceived to be in support of the Afghan government -- namely, US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces and humanitarian aid workers. The Taliban's aim is not direct confrontation, but rather a protracted war of attrition that will gradually expand their political and economic influence. Defeating the spreading Islamist insurgency depends on the coalition's commitment to increase the Afghan government's ability to improve security, deliver basic services and expand development for economic opportunity.

But the biggest challenge here will be to reconcile the imbalance between what Afghanistan is - a complex tapestry of traditional tribal structures - and what we want it to be - a burgeoning nation-state governed centrally from Kabul. Containing the insurgency will require working with local leaders to ferret out militants...

More at The Wall Street Journal.

H/T Dave Maxwell.

When candidate Barack Obama said he would pursue "tough, direct diplomacy without preconditions" with Iran, his rivals sneered.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner for the U.S. presidency, called the suggestion "reckless."

President George W. Bush likened Obama's proposal to World War II-era appeasement.

And Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's chief Democratic challenger, called Obama's plan "naí¯ve and irresponsible."

Obama's response: "Strong countries and strong presidents meet and talk with our adversaries. We shouldn't be afraid to do so. We've tried the other way. It didn't work."

Now that Obama's about to become president, McCain is back in the Senate, Bush is headed to retirement and Clinton is Obama's choice to be secretary of state...

More at Defense News.

A Farewell Warning On Iraq - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion

President Bush teased his ambassador in Baghdad by giving him the nickname "Sunshine," because of his sometimes-gloomy assessments of the political situation there. But Ryan Crocker persisted down to the last days in describing things precisely as he saw them.

Journalists probably shouldn't have heroes, but Crocker is one of mine. We first met in 1981 in Lebanon, and I've watched over the years as he took on the toughest challenges in the Foreign Service and became a superstar diplomat without ever losing his mordant sense of humor or his determination to speak truth to power. Crocker is leaving Baghdad and retiring from the Foreign Service next month, and he agreed (characteristically, with a grumble) to sit for a farewell interview last week while he was in Washington.

What made Crocker so unusual was his raw curiosity about the world. In the summer of 1970, when he was a student at Whitman College and determined not to spend the rest of his life in Walla Walla, Wash., he hitchhiked from Amsterdam to Calcutta. Traveling across the vast arc of the Middle East, he developed a fascination that never left him...

Much more at The Washington Post. BTW - Ryan Crocker is an official SWJ hero too - the right man, in the right job, at the right time - it does not get any better than that folks.

John Nagl's take via e-mail - I think General Petraeus would agree that an underappreciated pillar of our Iraq policy for the past two years has been American Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who retires next month. His replacement will be one of the most critical appointments made by the new administration. Crocker's exit interview with the reliably excellent David Ignatius provides important guideposts to a responsible American drawdown of forces and transition to a new role in Iraq.

Well said John!

First John:

NATO's Secretary General earns his salary for the year in the Washington Post piece below describing much-needed improvements to the counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan - a population security approach that builds Afghan government legitimacy; better understanding within NATO of counterinsurgency principles, especially the comprehensive approach that focuses on non-military solutions; a regional approach that includes Pakistan as an inherent part of the problem in Afghanistan; and better strategic communications to the region and to our own peoples.

He'll earn next year's salary a hundred times over if he can get NATO to implement the wisdom contained here.

And from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the Washington Post:

It has been seven years since Afghan forces supported by the United States toppled the Taliban and denied al-Qaeda the terrorist haven, training ground and launch pad that Afghanistan had become. Since then, there has been clear, substantial progress, including democratic elections, the liberation of many Afghan women to take their place in public life, and improvements in health care and education.

But an honest assessment of Afghanistan must conclude that we are not where we might have hoped to be by now. While the country's north and west are largely at peace and improving, the south and east are riven by insurgency, drugs and ineffective government. Afghans are increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress in building up their country. And the populations in countries that have contributed troops to the NATO-led mission are wondering how long this operation must last -- and how many young men and women we will lose carrying it out.

In April, to mark the 60th anniversary of NATO's founding, the member nations' heads of state and government will meet in Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany. This meeting is to be part of Barack Obama's first visit to Europe as president, and it will present an opportunity for alliance leaders to discuss the way forward. Five key lessons from recent years should help shape the path of this mission...

Continue on for the five key lessons. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is the Secretary General of NATO.

Israel's security cabinet has voted for a unilateral cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Following the vote Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel's offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza has achieved all of its objectives.

IDF to Remain in Gaza Until it's Clear Hamas Halts Rocket Fire - Jerusalem Post

The cabinet on Saturday night voted in favor of an Egyptian-backed, unilateral 10-day cease-fire deal, ending Operation Cast Lead three weeks after it began.

At a press conference directly following the meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the aims of the operation in the Gaza Strip had been "met in full," and that the cease-fire would be observed from 2 a.m. on Sunday.

If Hamas continues to fire on the South, however, Israel will reserve the right to return fire, the prime minister said. "If [Hamas] return to their unruly attacks they will be surprised again by the hand of Israel - I don't advise them to try it," he said.

Hamas leaders have repeated, however, that the group will not respect any cease-fire as long as Israel remains inside Gaza.

More:

Israel Announces Ceasefire on Gaza - The Times

Israel Declares Ceasefire but Hamas Still Defiant - Daily Telegraph

Israel Declares Unilateral Gaza Cease-fire - Associated Press

Israel Declares It Will Cease Fire; Hamas to Fight On - New York Times

Israel Declares Ceasefire in Gaza - BBC News

Israel PM Declares Halt to Gaza Offensive - Agence France-Presse

Israel Rejects Suggestions of Gaza "War Crimes" - Reuters

Damn, we thought we were special. Seriously, if you have not perused the "new and improved" Foreign Policy web page - you should - now.

'They Want Us to Be Stupid Things' - New York Times editorial

The war in Afghanistan has been so disastrously mismanaged that some NATO allies - eager to shed their commitment - are arguing that it is too late to salvage. We, too, are deeply worried. Anyone who has questions about why it is so important to try should go back and read the story of 17-year-old Shamsia Husseini that was published in The Times on Wednesday.

Ms. Husseini is a student at the Mirwais School for Girls outside Kandahar. Two months ago, as she was walking to school with her sister, a man on a motorcycle sprayed her with acid, burning her face and eyelids. Fourteen other students and teachers were attacked that day in an attempt to shut down the school. It failed.

As Ms. Husseini told our colleague Dexter Filkins, "The people who did this to me don't want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things." Ms. Husseini's parents told her "to keep coming to school even if I am killed."

More at The New York Times.

Afghan Girls, Scarred by Acid, Defy Terror, Embracing School - Dexter Filkens, New York Times

One morning two months ago, Shamsia Husseini and her sister were walking through the muddy streets to the local girls school when a man pulled alongside them on a motorcycle and posed what seemed like an ordinary question.

"Are you going to school?"

Then the man pulled Shamsia's burqa from her head and sprayed her face with burning acid. Scars, jagged and discolored, now spread across Shamsia's eyelids and most of her left cheek. These days, her vision goes blurry, making it hard for her to read.

But if the acid attack against Shamsia and 14 others - students and teachers - was meant to terrorize the girls into staying home, it appears to have completely failed.

More at The New York Times.

Nir - what say you?