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After my first ever visit to Kabul, Afghanistan last month, I’ll be paying close attention to what action the Afghan government takes on the heels of last week’s “peace jirga,” which was attended by about 1,600 Afghan leaders from around the country, but did not include representatives from the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Group or Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami.

This is not the government’s first attempt at national reconciliation, of course, and according to experts at the Center for American Progress, past failures can be attributed in part to:

…inadequate political and financial support by Afghan and foreign governments, a lack of effective vetting mechanisms to determine who is a genuine insurgent, poor design and management of the programs’ difficulties in delivering on promises made including jobs and money, and failures to protect reconciled fighters.

For these reasons and others, the Afghan government’s legitimacy is both dependent on and crucial to the success of reconciliation.

Recent events in Kyrgyzstan emphasize the importance of the U.S. Air Force world-wide infrastructure.

Gander International Airport (New Foundland) remains an important part of U.S. global reach around the world.  From its early work with NORAD in 1952 to 9/11 in 2001, Gander Airport has always been a key ally of the US.  Gander even played an important role in the recent Haiti Earthquake relief missions flying from Europe.  Most importantly, and with little fanfare, Gander’s support to current U.S. flights enroute to operations in the Afghanistan area happen almost daily.   

Cassidy & Associates considers Gander International Airport an important client–not only is Gander important to our critical world-wide flying infrastructure, but they are also a good friend.

As President Obama nears a decision on the path forward in Afghanistan, Americans are divided in their feelings on the topic.  No doubt, this is a case where the President’s actions, following a very deliberative decision making process, will likely shape public opinion, more than reflect it.

Yesterday, I had the chance to attend a fascinating event on Afghanistan sponsored by the RAND Coporation’s Center for Middle East Policy.  Thanks to Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation and The Washington Note for the invite.

It would be a challenge to fairly summarize the presentations.  The discussions covered substantial breadth and depth in just over four and a half hours. 

What I can say about it is this:  After hearing numerous really smart people discuss the challenges facing us in Afghanistan, among whom there was a fair amount of disagreement on the right way forward, I wouldn’t want to be faced with the decisions that President Obama must soon make.

The event opened with a speech from former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski (CSPAN coverage here) and closed with a speech by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, Senator Carl Levin (CSPAN coverage here).  Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad also gave brief remarks.

In addition to major speeches, there were three panels of experts who gave short presentations and then took questions from the audience.

Counterinsurgency Panel:

Fred Kagan, American Enterprise Insitutute
Arturo Munoz, RAND
Paul Pillar, Georgtown
Moderated by Peter David, The Economist

Counterterrorism Panel:

Terrence Kelly, RAND
Brian Michael Jenkins, RAND
Steve Coll, New American Foundation
Michael O’Hanlon, Brookings Institution
Moderated by Yochi Dreazen, The Wall Street Journal

Containment Panel:

Stephen Walt, Harvard University
Christopher Preble, CATO
James Dobbins, RAND
Moderated by Kevin Sullivan, The Washington Post

I just stumbled across a piece by Robert Haddick on The American blog about irregular warfare.  It’s particularly relevant given the debate about Afghanistan that lies just over the horizon.