Rapid Fire May 17, 2012: Afghan Exit Costs, Timing

Map by Gene ThorpThe Washington Post Pakistan will reopen its roads to NATO convoys, but at a price. They want to charge $5,000 per container, according to the Washington Post. Other recent international defense developments include: * France’s new defense minister is Jean-Yves Le Drian, a member of President Hollande’s Parti Socialiste like most ministers in the newly-formed cabinet. This was widely expected since Le Drian advised François Hollande (an Army reserve officer himself) during his presidential campaign. Like Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Le Drian has limited executive experience, but as member of the lower chamber of parliament he used to be on the defense committee. Hollande will meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron tomorrow, who like Germany’s Angela Merkel, will ask the French President to reconsider his promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. * If South Sudan’s army receives its planned air defense missiles soon, and if the missiles are tolerably modern, and if it has troops on its soil with the training to maintain and use them, it could change the strategic calculus vs. Sudan. As wonderful as that would be, those are a lot of “ifs”. * The […]