Liveblogging CSIS Journo Panel: Afghanistan – Pakistan
27 May 2009 5:42 pm by Taylor Marsh
Reporting from CSIS
Listen/watch taped event
–updated–
5:40:58 PM: Bob Schieffer, moderator; Edward Luce, Nancy Youssef, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, David Sanger.
5:45:00 PM: Schiefer: Bush saw it as 2 policies; Obama sees it as one.
5:47:40 PM: Sanger: Obama policy says nothing about “democratization,” it’s about getting al Qaeda, which is in Pak.
5:49:42 PM: Chandra.: Nothing much has changed so far under BO. When will broader new strat link up?
5:52:51 PM: Youssef: From Pentagon perspective, Iraq to Afghan hasn’t transferred. Equip needs differ.
5:56:34 PM: Luce: When Carter gave Zia millions, the Pak said “it was peanuts.” (Laughter) Kerry-Lugar “ambitious.”
6:00:06 PM: Sanger: People nervous about “materials.” Insider threat, “2,000″ who have knowledge, which could be recruited.
6:01:41 PM: Luce: “Vulnerability (of weapons in Pak) has been exaggerated” by some in the media.
6:04:12 PM: Chandra.: Afghans can’t get police to help w/o bribe, so they turn to the Taliban. Police corrupt.
6:06:35 PM: Youssef: Some US troops going into SAfghan, the heart of poppy prod. Poppy minimal work; wheat not. Tal threat
6:10:26 PM: BO policy that diff from 43? Sanger, no; Chandra, funding coming thru, Karzai relations arm’s distance.
6:13:26 PM: Youssef: biggest diff is BO calling Afghan “the good war”: Luce, India’s elections; Kashmir
6:19:46 PM: Chandra: Delinking policy from Karzai; “local, decentralized strategy.” Youssef: more bottom up; Iraq more linear.
6:26:43 PM: Chandra: Agriculture has “vaulted to the top” of Holbrooke’s list in Af-Pak. Poppy plant an “agricultural system.”
6:28:08 PM: Youssef: Wheat would arrive then sit by the road. When asked, soldiers didn’t know what to do with it.
6:29:28 PM: Youssef: ISAF seen as “I saw Americans fighting.”
6:32:40 PM: Chandra.- McKiernan: “Drummed out of the military,” others have not been. (1st fired since McCarther.)
6:34:41 PM: Chandra: Can Pak do COIN? Local Afghan security?
FINAL ENTRY (Added, Twitter didn’t load it) – Youssef: balancing Afhan and Iraq. Will Iraq go bad slowly? Navigating this. End of Event.
