Some Good News About Afghanistan?

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The notion that Afghanistan could become Obama’s Vietnam has been picking up supporters lately—see this Newsweek cover, plus more airings here and here and here. In this month’s Washington Monthly, terrorism analyst and MoJo contributor Peter Bergen argues forcefully that there’s nothing to see here, folks: “Afghanistan will not be Obama’s Vietnam, nor will it be his Iraq. Rather, the renewed and better resourced American effort in Afghanistan will, in time, produce a relatively stable and prosperous Central Asian state.”

Bergen is no wide-eyed optimist: In the July/August 2007 issue of Mother Jones, he took stock of the many avoidable mistakes made by the Bush administration in Afghanistan that led to the “Iraqization” of the conflict there. So it’s notable that the Obama administration’s increased investment in Afghanistan has him feeling more upbeat about the country’s prospects. Check out the whole thing here.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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