Afghanistan Effort Shooting Behind a Moving Target

Issue Brief
Apr 1, 2025

Rescuing Pakistan’s economy

By
Aasim M. Husain

For decades, Pakistan has struggled with a declining standard of living, skyrocketing public debt, and economic policies that have failed to address the root causes of its stagnation.

Economy & Business
Middle East

Afghanistan Effort Shooting Behind a Moving Target

New Atlanticist
Mar 25, 2025

Starlink’s India launch is a crash course on New Delhi’s approach to tech sovereignty

By
Trisha Ray

A recently announced partnership to deploy the Elon Musk-led company’s satellite internet in India offers a window into New Delhi’s “hybrid” approach.

Economy & Business
India

Afghanistan Effort Shooting Behind a Moving Target

New Atlanticist
Feb 19, 2025

Why India and Armenia are now taking their relationship to new heights

By
Tatevik Khachatryan, Srujan Palkar

The growing military and diplomatic cooperation between New Delhi and Yerevan benefits both beyond immediate defense concerns.

Economy & Business
India

Programs

The South Asia Center is the hub for the Atlantic Council’s analysis of the political, social, geographical, and cultural diversity of the region. ​At the intersection of South Asia and its geopolitics, SAC cultivates dialogue to shape policy and forge ties between the region and the global community.

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Content

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2009

Afghanistan Effort Shooting Behind a Moving Target

By James Easaw

A wise man once said “we can’t kill our way to victory” in Afghanistan.  And, I might add, we can’t keep shooting behind a moving target either.  If you want to hit a moving target, you have to lead it.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 20, 2009

An Alternative Strategy for Afghanistan

By Bernard Finel

One of my great frustrations in becoming more involved in the debate over Afghanistan policy and the utility of population-centric counter-insurgency (COIN) theory is how ruthlessly the pro-escalation side of the debate has sought to caricature the position of the skeptics.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 19, 2009

Shock and Awe in Pakistan

By Harlan Ullman

The apparent elimination of Tehrik-e-Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud two weeks ago in a Predator strike is, on balance, very good news.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 19, 2009

Afghanistan Election Winner

By Shuja Nawaz

No matter what the pundits and the election commission says after tomorrow’s elections in  Afghanistan, one thing seems clear : we know who has won. It is the people of Afghanistan. Rather than hurl rockets or grenades at each other, they have debated and traded arguments. Rather than picking up arms, they have clicked on […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 17, 2009

Beyond the Afghanistan Command Change

By James Joyner

When David McKiernan was summarily fired from his post as commanding general in Afghanistan, I was shocked. Rajiv Chandrasekaran has a superb insider account in today’s WaPo that fills in some of the gaps.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 14, 2009

Pakistan Nukes Misfire

By Shuja Nawaz

Few issues grab more attention on the global stage today than the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The assumption in the West has always been that Pakistan cannot adequately safeguard these weapons and that radical Islamists will grab them, putting Western interests at risk in the region.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 13, 2009

Outside Intervention in Internal Wars

By Don Snow

The most ignored but arguably the most important factor militating against American success in Afghanistan is the dynamic of outside intervention in internal wars. The experience of foreign countries intervening in other people’s civil conflicts is, to put it mildly, dismal.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2009

Afghanistan Debate Intensifies

By James Joyner

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan is the latest senior official calling for additional resources for the effort there.  Meanwhile, the debate over whether NATO should continue its mission at all has taken off.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2009

How Secure are Pakistan’s Nukes?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Is Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal theft-proof? Former President Pervez Musharraf and his successor Asif Ali Zardari and their army and intelligence chiefs repeatedly have assured both the Bush and Obama administrations that their 80-odd nuclear weapons are as secure as the U.S. arsenal of some 7,000 city busters. The Pakistanis have separated warheads from delivery systems […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2009

Rasmussen: Afghanistan NATO’s Top Priority

By James Joyner

New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has wasted no time in signaling that the war in Afghanistan is the Alliance’s top priority, holding a teleconference on the conflict, reorganizing the mission’s command structure and calling for more EU help in his first days on the job.

Afghanistan NATO
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Experts

Millennium fellow

Marissa Guiang

COO for Emerging Markets & Asia Fundamental Equities, BlackRock

Millennium Leadership Program

East Asia Economy & Business

Fellow

Omer Rafiq

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Hindi

Fellow

Stanislava Mladenova

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Afghanistan Conflict
Jonathan Green is a nonresident senior fellow at the GeoStrategy Initiative in the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Fellow

Jonathan Green

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Defense Industry

Fellow

Sudeep Kanungo

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoTech Center

Africa Energy & Environment
Josh Kirshner is a nonresident senior fellow in the GeoStrategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Fellow

Josh Kirshner

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Arms Control Defense Policy
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