Another SFRC report to come out. This one on the Taliban and drug traffickers

[beachmom]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/10/afghanistan.drugs/index.html

The U.S. military hopes to kill or capture some 50 Afghan drug traffickers with financial ties to the Taliban in an effort to shut down one of the insurgency's biggest sources of revenue, a U.S. Senate report says.

The new plan is the first time the U.S. military has been directly involved in anti-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan, and commanders say it is an essential part of the overall plan to stabilize the country, which is under heavy Taliban influence.

Until now the U.S. military has left the eradication programs to other U.S. agencies and the Afghan military, keeping its "most wanted" list to insurgent leaders tied to bomb making, weapons smuggling or facilitating foreign fighters into the country.

"The change is dramatic for a military that once ignored the drug trade flourishing in front of its eyes," according to the report. "No longer are U.S. commanders arguing that going after the drug lords is not part of their mandate."

...

The yet-to-be released report was prepared by staff for members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A copy was provided to CNN. It is based on testimony by U.S. military officials to the committee.

Interesting article. CNN has been good about reporting on the SFRC reports. Check it out.

[ProSense]

1. The report

is linked to here.

[beachmom]

2. A post about it on the Washington Independent:

http://washingtonindependent.com/54661/senates-afghanistan-narcotics-report-released

Based on Kerry's statement, Spencer Ackerman says:

I don’t know what Kerry’s current thinking is about the Afghanistan war — more on that soon, I hope — but that’s quite the note of caution.

He links to the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/world/asia/10afghan.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

And Spencer's post about it:

http://washingtonindependent.com/54448/opium-al-qaeda-and-the-helmand-sideshow

And yet another post, where Spencer asked questions to Senator Kerry through his staff. Just read the whole thing. He says he will be doing a longer post on it for tomorrow.

http://washingtonindependent.com/54714/kerry-on-afghanistan-metrics-no-rush-and-concern-about-drift

[beachmom]

3. Must read article from Spencer:

http://washingtonindependent.com/54840/obama-faces-rising-anxiety-on-afghanistan

Quotes from Kerry:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, fielding questions from TWI, said that he had been told by administration officials that the metrics “are still being finalized and coordinated” across different government agencies. He added that he was unconcerned about the delay in producing them “given the importance of getting that right.” But he suggested that the metrics be calibrated to avoid mission creep, a concern that has been a mainstay of the past few weeks of progressive criticism.

“Let me just say that I think it is critical that our footprint in Afghanistan match the mission President Obama laid out in his strategy and that we have realistic expectations for what we can accomplish,” Kerry said. “We should be careful not to rely too much on nation building metrics to get us to our original goal of denying safe haven to the Taliban and other extremists who seek to do harm. And we need to be careful not to focus too much on tactics that worked in Iraq, given the vastly different conditions in Afghanistan.”

Kerry said that “much of our progress will rely on the Afghan people themselves” as well as the Afghan security forces and governing institutions, a point made often by the Obama administration. No one questioned Obama’s “goal of succeeding in Afghanistan,” Kerry added, but said there was still a challenge over “how we are going to define success in the medium term, given the difficult security environment we face.”

Interesting how Kerry talks in such a calibrated way. I think privately he is even more worried.