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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

NATO and Afghanistan

WASHINGTON

Nir Rosen is author of the new book Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World.
He said today: "Obama has set an arbitrary deadline of 2014, but his
generals are doing the same thing again and again and expecting
different results. There is no evidence of progress on any front and
every reason to believe next year in Afghanistan will be worse than this
year. We mistakenly see Afghanistan through the prism of Iraq. But the
'surge' did not reduce violence in Iraq. It was Iraqi social and
political dynamics. And none of these elements have their Afghan
equivalents. And Iraq remains more violent than Afghanistan. We spend so
much time thinking about what we can do in Afghanistan that we ignore
the question of whether we even should do it."

His previous book is In the Belly of the Green Bird: The Triumph of the Martyrs in Iraq. Rosen is a fellow at New York University's Center on Law and Security.

A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.