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A former senior correspondent and editor of the Washington Post, Rajiv Chandrasekaran is a senior vice president at Starbucks, where he works with veterans. He is the author of Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan and Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone
America and the 'forever war' Anyone born in the US since September 11 has lived an entire lifetime in a nation at war. Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump have warned of threats from overseas -- but allies as well as enemies feel the real threat is America's unparalleled power. The total cost is up to $5.6 trillion, but less than one percent of the population has served -- and without shared sacrifice, foreign battlefields seem far away. Now the so-called "war on terror" is coming home, as Congress encourages local police to adopt military strategies and equipment designed for combat. In the name of ensuring freedom abroad, are we in danger of losing freedom at home? In December of the year 2000, this program went on the air. Less than a year later, everything changed.
One Month In, Training Syrian Rebels May Hit Snags The Pentagon plans to recruit some 5,000 refugees every year to be trained in Saudi Arabia and deployed in Syria. But some insiders say there’s a “disconnect” between the goal of creating a force to oppose the so-called Islamic State and the kind of training the recruits will be getting. “Moderate Syrian fighters are deemed essential to defeating the Islamic State under the Obama administration’s strategy.” But plans call for training recruits only to defend territory, rather than seizing it back. That’s according to Rajiv Chandrasekaran in the Washington Post, where he’s senior correspondent and associate editor.
Back to Iraq Today, two American military jets dropped bombs on Islamic extremists in Iraq. The airstrikes were the first serious military operation the U.S. has carried out in that country since withdrawing our combat troops three years ago. What are we trying to achieve and what are the chances for success? Is this a slippery slope to re-engagement?
The Pentagon's Latest War…against Mental Illness Fast-paced national/international news and issues program, from KCRW.
Another Fort Hood Shooting Three of the victims shot yesterday at Ford Hood, Texas have died along with the shooter, who killed himself. Three others are in critical condition. In previously scheduled testimony, Army Secretary John McHugh told a Senate committee today that the shooter was a veteran of four months in Iraq without any record of injury, although he was being treated for depression. Rajiv Chandrasekaran is senior correspondent and editor at the Washington Post and co-author of a new series , examining the effects of recent wars on American soldiers.
Spinning Afghanistan The federal aid agency USAID is looking for photographers in Afghanistan to capture the good-news stories coming out of the country, to counter all the “negative” photos that journalists are snapping. The job posting rubbed some White House critics the wrong way, given the way the Obama administration has regularly gone around journalists to spin its own stories.
Hamid Karzai Does It Again Just last night, Secretary of State John Kerry announced a deal to keep some American troops in Afghanistan after next year's withdrawal. "The agreement will speak for itself when the agreement is approved…We have agreed on the language that would be submitted to a loya jirga, but they have to pass it." Today, the President of Afghanistan said it might not be signed until next year. It's all about the continued presence of some American soldiers after most foreign troops leave the country. Is this another of Hamid Karzai's diplomatic maneuvers? Will the traditional meeting of 2500 tribal elders that's meeting on Afghan security, approve the troop deal? How many soldiers are needed to hold off the Taliban and protect Afghanistan's regional interests, and how long will the US be willing to pay the bills?
US Troops Aid Effort to Capture African Warlord Joseph Kony The video Kony 2012 , released last year by a group called "Invisible Children," was viewed 88 million times in its first month. The activists behind it helped secure a little-known commitment of 100 American Special Forces to capture or kill an African war lord who is no threat to the United States but who kidnaps children and trains them to terrorize local villages. In the Washington Post , Rajiv Chandrasekaran describes a 15-hour trek in a rainstorm through suffocating jungle in Congo. It happened last month, and it was the first time American Special operations advisers provided field support in the hunt for Joseph Kony, who leads the Lord's Resistance Army.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran on 'Little America' in Afghanistan Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an editor and foreign correspondent for the Washington Post. His book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City , was a scathing account of US mishandling of the war in Iraq. His latest is Little America : the War Within the War for Afghanistan. We talked to him at KCRW's studio in Santa Monica in July.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran on 'Little America' in Afghanistan Rajiv Chandrasekaran is an editor and foreign correspondent for the Washington Post. His book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City , was a scathing account of US mishandling of the war in Iraq. His latest is Little America : the War Within the War for Afghanistan. We talked to him at KCRW's studio in Santa Monica in July.
What's Next in Afghanistan? When President Obama's 33,000-troop surge in Afghanistan ended a week early, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made the announcement during a trip to New Zealand. In today's speech to the UN , the President mentioned Afghanistan only once, when he told the General Assembly that the war in Afghanistan will end on schedule in 2014. What did he leave out? We talk about a war that could get a lot more complicated before it's finally over.
What's Next in Afghanistan? When America's 33,000- troop "surge" in Afghanistan ended a week before President Obama's deadline this coming Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made the announcement during a trip to New Zealand. In today's speech to the UN , the President mentioned Afghanistan only once. Sixty-eight thousand American soldiers are scheduled to stay in Afghanistan until 2014. What did hundreds of lives and tens of billions of dollars accomplish over the past two years? Soldiers, diplomats, and other observers don't agree. It's unclear if it's safe for remaining coalition troops to train Afghan security forces, or if the Taliban are just waiting for final US withdrawal. What's likely to happen between now and then? Does America have the political will to make good on its promise to maintain Afghanistan's integrity long after that?
'Little America' in Afghanistan America's longest war is winding down as the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is already underway. How have America's goals changed? Has President Obama's military "surge" been successful? What about the civilian surge? Those and other questions are addressed in Little America : The War within the War for Afghanistan. Its author, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, is a foreign correspondent and editor for the Washington Post. His Imperial Life in the Emerald City was a scathing account of US handling of the war in Iraq.
In Afghanistan, Is the Endgame Beginning? In what has been the deadliest part of Afghanistan for American forces there are " signs of change ," as another season of fighting gets under way. That's according to Rajiv Chandrasekaran, senior correspondent and associate editor of the Washington Post, just back from the region. Meanwhile, two-thirds of Americans tell pollsters this country's longest war is no longer worth fighting, at the cost of many casualties and billions of dollars. We look at the shaky start of the so-called "endgame" in Afghanistan.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
