Bargaining Chips

Another boring-but-informative (and potentially useful) link dump. Where are my words?

Soldiers smoked late one evening at Forward Operating Base Salerno in eastern Paktika Province.

• Gorgeous photos by Dima Gavrysh at the NYT Lens blog.
• The Natural Security Blog on soft power.
• Michael C. at On Violence on Training the Army after Iraq (perhaps worth reading in conjunction with Kenneth Payne’s The Army after Afghanistan).
• John Sullivan and Adam Elkus on Strategy and insurgency: an evolution in thinking?
• Chicago Boyz round table, Afghanistan in 2050.
• Good comments on Matt’s post at Attackerman on the life and times of the Foreign Service.