The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008 - ForeignPolicy.com

1. The Surge in Afghanistan Starts Early

Along with reducing troop levels in Iraq, President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to dramatically increase the U.S. presence in Afghanistan in a strategy similar to the “surge,” which proved so effective in reducing violence in Iraq. Although the wisdom of such an approach will surely be hotly debated in the coming months, the truth is that the Afghanistan surge has, to a certain extent, already begun. In the first half of 2008, the Bush administration boosted U.S. forces in Afghanistan by more than 21,000, or nearly 85 percent, with significant increases in the presence of Air Force and Marine personnel. Even reluctant NATO members have pledged to kick in a few thousand troops.

The United States has also been on a building spree, planning a $100 million airfield expansion in Kandahar and a $50 million prison facility near Bagram Air Base. In requesting supplemental funding from Congress to build a $62 million ammunition storage facility near Bagram, the Army said the base “must be able to provide for a long term, steady state presence which is able to surge to meet theater contingency requirements.”

Of course, counterinsurgency is about more than just boots on the ground and new facilities. In Iraq, efforts to reach out to tribal leaders and nationalist insurgents and turn them against local elements of al Qaeda were crucial. U.S. commanders have shied away from taking similar steps in Afghanistan, but President Hamid Karzai has been pushing for exactly this type of engagement, holding a jirga of tribal leaders in Kabul and even reaching out to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. So, if Obama takes office with a plan to pacify Afghanistan through more troops and reaching out to local leaders, he might well discover that he already has a head start....