Greetings, gentle Registanis.  I spotted a couple interesting stories with similar themes.  The theme might best be titled, to borrow from the Daily Show, Clusterf@#$ to the Poor House [Central Asian Edition]  More after the jump. Bailouts Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbaev increased the grow...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN — In January, when I first arrived here, I made an alarming discovery about the state of IT in the Army. Practically all of the blogs and other online tools I use to stay informed and connected to my colleagues (see here, for example) did not work. More accurately,...

The Tagab Valley, Kapisa Province, Afghanistan. BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN — One of the most stupefying encounters I’ve had these past six weeks amongst the fobbits centered, quite naturally enough, around the Taliban. I was out in a village, talking to people from an area (what, you t...

I really enjoy Abu Muqawama. Andrew Exum is a smart fellow, smart enough for CNAS to snatch him up and give him healthcare. But what the hell is this? That said, I like to imagine that in two years running this blog I have learned a thing or two about population-centric counterinsurgency, and it occ...

[Note: Holy editor, Batman! My apologies to the English language for the first draft of this essay.] BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN — It is a wonderful feeling, that sinking, gut-level twinge when you realize all your hopes and plans are void and you are stuck in a place you do not want to be. P...

So says Christie Blatchford: It if were up to me, I’d show the whole [murder video of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak] on every television network in Canada. Young Canadians are fighting the Taliban in Kandahar province and much precious Canadian blood already has been spilled there. The insur...

Over the weekend I got a classy and well written letter from The ASMBA Star Foundation.  The ASMBA Star Foundation is a 501c(3) charitable foundation that supports the needs of our military families.  I'd like to share some of the letter: From assisting wounded warriors to providing ...

Don’t tell me we can’t change. Yes we can! Defense contractor KBR Inc. has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As Glenn Reynolds might s...

The Army is shutting down its entire recruiting operation in the wake of four suicides, Army Times reports. Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered a stand-down of the Army’s entire recruiting force and a review of almost every aspect of the job is underway in the wake of a wide-ranging investigatio...

Alex Thurston, who blogs at friend-of-Registan.net-The Agonist, has teamed up with a group of progressives to argue against the Afghan Surge at Get Afghanistan Right. Indeed, one of his big posts is about taking down what he calls “pro-escalation” arguments. He and I struck up a friendly...