David Rodriguez

Because that’s the deal here: if Stanley McChrystal is confirmed as the replacement for David McKiernan as the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, his theatre title will be COMISAF, for Commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, which comprises troops from all donor states including Canada. So Barack Obama just changed our military commander in Afghanistan. Over to Fred Kaplan, who explains why “this is a very big deal,” describes the rift in military doctrine that put McChrystal and McKiernan on opposite sides, and hints at what will certainly be controversy over McChrystal’s background in Special Ops. Afghanistan is now Obama’s war, and ours with it, win or lose.