October 2nd, 2008 by Jason

Yesterday afternoon the Wilson Center hosted New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins to discuss his new book, The Forever War, about his experiences reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Filkins talked about his time in Afghanistan in 1998 as well as during the U.S. invasion in 2001.  He said the situation is very bad there and has no apparent solution. He noted that much of the resistance now is not religious but nationalistic and ethnic.

On Iraq, Filkins said the surge is working and the positive changes have been extraordinary. He attributes the success to the new counterinsurgency strategy as well as overreach by al-Qaeda. He called the Sunni Awakening “very fragile” as the federal government takes command over it.

For full POMED notes on this event, click here.

Posted in Afghanistan, DC Event Notes, Iraq, Journalism, Publications, US foreign policy |