Understanding “Mr Obama’s Wars”: Five Essential Analyses on Afghanistan and Pakistan
Afghanistan: The Real Importance of The“Non-Story” of 13,000 Support Troops

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UPDATE 21 October: Overwhelmed by the mass of media coverage on the developments in Afghanistan? Well, just before going to the best inside story — Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow in The Washington Post — let’s have a look at EA’s four sentences from yesterday and see how they hold up:

1. Karzai accepts runoff. Check.
2. US declares satisfaction. President Obama to reporters, “President Karzai, as well as the other candidates have shown that they have the interests of the Afghan people at heart.” Check.

3. Closest challenger Abdullah Abdullah accepts runoff. Check.

4. Coalition government with both Karzai and Abdullah to be formed. Wait for it — it will come soon after the 7 November run-off.

5. US then declares troop escalation. Could be a pre-Christmas present for all of us.

Let’s cut through the acres of newsprint and hours of broadcasts trying to get to grips with the controversy over the Afghanistan Presidential election, after a UN-backed electoral commission threw out 28 percent of the votes for current President and front-runner Hamid Karzai and 18 percent of the votes for his closest challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

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