Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Juan Cole: Taliban collapsing in north

I thought I was the only person who was more optimistic about Afghanistan than about Iraq, in the long run. But Juan Cole appears to be hopping on that train, too. And here is Rothkopf’s very good listing of the winners and losers of last week’s events. Losers No. 1: “Mullah Omar, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Anwar ...

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

I thought I was the only person who was more optimistic about Afghanistan than about Iraq, in the long run. But Juan Cole appears to be hopping on that train, too.

I thought I was the only person who was more optimistic about Afghanistan than about Iraq, in the long run. But Juan Cole appears to be hopping on that train, too.

And here is Rothkopf’s very good listing of the winners and losers of last week’s events. Losers No. 1: “Mullah Omar, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Anwar Al-Awlaki.… You guys all moved up the list. Time to get your affairs in order, write good-bye notes, that kind of thing.”

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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