Yesterday’s RAND Event on Afghanistan Was a Good Reminder of the Sobering Choice Facing President Obama
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