Afghanistan

Left photo: An old woman and a young child stand behind a rusty metal gate. The caption reads: Afghan people watch as World Food Programme volunteers distribute sacks of food grains as an aid in Kandahar on October 19, 2021, via Agence France Presse and Getty Images. The image on the right: diplomats meet in a formal setting at the United Nations Security Council in New York.

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362 Articles
Just Security

Joint Chiefs of Staff: Bergdahl exchange vital to keeping faith with American service members

All seven members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have written a separate letter to the Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee stating their support for the exchange of the…
Just Security

The D.C. Circuit, Article II, and the Constitutionality of the Guantánamo Transfer Restrictions

When President Obama transferred five Taliban detainees from Guantánamo in exchange for American POW Bowe Bergdahl, forests were felled over whether the Obama Administration…
Just Security

Transparency and Lethal Operations: A Checklist of What’s Public and What’s Still Secret [Updated]

Transparency is the touchstone for many debates about US lethal operations against Al Qaeda and associated forces. This post contains a checklist of sorts—cataloguing what information…
Just Security

10 Years of Drone Strikes in Pakistan–but do you know whether it’s an “area of active hostilities”?

Today marks the ten-year anniversary of the first reported US drone strike in Pakistan (punctuated by another one today). Yet there is still official silence about a crucial…
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US Resumes Drone Strikes in Pakistan: A New Course of Action?

In the past 24-48 hours, the United States has reportedly conducted two successive drone strikes in Pakistan’s northwest tribal area—ending an almost six-month suspension of…
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Clapper to Hagel: Taliban 5 return to battle “will not appreciably change the threat” to US or Afghanistan

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday about the prisoner exchange involving Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and five Guantanamo detainees…
Just Security

Secretary Hagel’s defense of the Bergdahl deal [UPDATED]

[slightly updated for clarification and to account for testimony during the hearing] The Secretary of Defense is testifying at a HASC hearing beginning now.  Here are his prepared…
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Congress Clearly Contemplated Prisoner Exchanges as Part of NDAA Notification Requirements–and so did the White House

Some think the following is the Obama administration’s main argument for bypassing Congress in transferring the 5 Taliban detainees from Guantanamo: Congress did not contemplate…
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Sgt. Bergdahl and the High Priority to Recover Missing Soldiers

So far as I can tell, the issue of whether Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was a deserter is an issue that has very little relevance to any question of the legality or wisdom of the US…
Just Security

Could Desertion in Afghanistan Be a Capital Offense?

As the debate over last weekend’s prisoner exchange continues, one of the darker memes to emerge is the suggestion that Sergeant Bergdahl could/should be court-martialed…
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Eugene Fidell on Defection, Desertion, AWOL—and Whether to Prosecute

One of the clearest thinkers on US military justice and procedure is Eugene Fidell. And one of my favorite interviewers is Robin Young on WBUR’s Here and Now. The two recently…
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The Administration’s explanation for why it was lawful not to wait 30 days to complete the Bergdahl exchange

National Security Council Caitlin Hayden just issued this statement concerning “why it was lawful for the Administration to proceed with the [Bergdahl] transfer notwithstanding…
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