Top Ten Myths About Afghanistan
Posted: December 30, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan Leave a comment »http://networkedblogs.com/ciEbP
Afghanistan war logs: How US marines sanitised record of bloodbath
Posted: July 28, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, War Leave a comment »http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/26/afghanistan-war-logs-us-marines
The Effect of Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq — by Luke N. Condra, Joseph H. Felter, Radha K. Iyengar, Jacob N. Shapiro
Posted: July 5, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Uncategorized, War Leave a comment »Sent to you via Google Reader
The Effect of Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq — by Luke N. Condra, Joseph H. Felter, Radha K. Iyengar, Jacob N. Shapiro
How are insurgents able to mobilize the population to fight and withhold valuable information from government forces? More specifically, what role does government mistreatment of non-combatants play? We study these questions by using uniquely-detailed micro-data from Afghanistan and Iraq to assess the impact of civilian casualties on insurgent violence. By comparing the data along temporal, spatial, and gender dimensions we are able to distinguish short-run ‘information’ and ‘capacity’ effects from the longer run ‘recruiting’ and ‘revenge’ effects. In Afghanistan we find strong evidence for a revenge effect in that local exposure to ISAF generated civilian casualties drives increased insurgent violence over the long-run. Matching districts with similar past trends in violence shows that counterinsurgent-generated civilian casualties from a typical incident are responsible for 6 additional violent incidents in an average sized district in the following 6 weeks. There is no evidence of short run effects in Afghanistan, thus ruling out the information and the capacity mechanisms. Critically, we find no evidence of a similar reaction to civilian casualties in Iraq, suggesting insurgents‘ mobilizing tools may be quite conflict-specific. Our results show that if counterinsurgent forces in Afghanistan wish to minimize insurgent recruitment, they must minimize harm to civilians despite the greater risk this entails.
Daniel J. SmithSent Via Mobile Phone
http://www.danieljosephsmith.com
Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire: The Independent Review: The Independent Institute
Posted: April 27, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Uncategorized, War Leave a comment »http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=191
Daniel J. Smith
Sent Via Mobile Phone
http://www.danieljosephsmith.com
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War: The Independent Review: The Independent Institute
Posted: April 27, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Uncategorized, War Leave a comment »http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=569
Daniel J. Smith
Sent Via Mobile Phone
http://www.danieljosephsmith.com
All Terrorism is Local
Posted: April 1, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Terrorism, Uncategorized, War Leave a comment »Sent to you via Google Reader
All Terrorism is Local
Democrats Dump Anti-War Lovers
Posted: March 25, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, Iraq, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized, War Leave a comment »Sent to you via Google Reader
Democrats Dump Anti-War Lovers
HT: Dr. Adam Martin
Winning the Hearts and Minds of Afghan Farmers
Posted: March 21, 2010 Filed under: Afghanistan, Drugs, Uncategorized Leave a comment »Sent to you via Google Reader
Winning the Hearts and Minds of Afghan Farmers
Steve Chapman on Obama’s Losing Bet in Afghanistan
Posted: December 14, 2009 Filed under: Afghanistan, War Leave a comment »“Obama’s new Afghanistan policy is a clever attempt to reconcile the two sides of the debate, one favoring escalation and the other recommending withdrawal. He proposes to do both: ramp up now and start to leave in 18 months. But as Steve Chapman writes, betting on a substantial withdrawal in 2011 is like betting that Tiger Woods will become monogamous.”
