Today's Headlines and Commentary

President Obama has outlined his plan for a future American military presence in Afghanistan: he plans to withdraw all but 9,800 troops by the end of the year. Reuters reports that by the end of 2016, the hope is that the U.S. troop levels would be “cut to a normal embassy presence." Of course, the United States can’t technically keep troops in Afghanistan past the end of this year without the Afghan government signing an agreement---which current president Hamid Karzai has refused to do. Both leading candidates in the upcoming June presidential election, however, have pledged to sign an accord upon taking office. The Washington Post also covers the news. Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution has penned a piece for Politico breaking down President Obama’s Afghanistan plan---the good, the bad, and the misguided. The New York Times Editorial Board weakly applauds President Obama’s announcement, but expresses anger that his promise to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan---a promise he campaigned on---won’t be honored “until he’s practically out of office.” Speaking of promises, over at the Huffington Post, Matt Sledge and Sabrina Siddiqui are calling President Obama out on a lack of action surrounding U.S. drone policy. The two lambaste the Obama administration for a continued lack of transparency surrounding drone strikes. The authors argue that the government’s emphasis on the drop in strikes and civilian casualties in Pakistan is a carefully crafted smokescreen; and instead urge the public to pay attention to Yemen, where drone strikes and civilian casualties have increased in the past year. The AP reports that the United States may begin to train Syrian rebels. President Obama has yet to sign off on the plan.  But were he to do so, a limited number of American troops would be sent to Jordan, in order to help train moderate Syrians opposing the Assad regime. President Obama is expected to outline his approach to Syria in his speech at the U.S. Military Academy later today. NBC News has released portions of its exclusive interview with Edward Snowden. Brian Williams sat down with Snowden in Moscow recently, and although the interview will not air in its entirety until late this evening, NBC has decided to whet our appetite. Some highlights of the interview include Snowden claiming that he was not some “low-level” hacker, but was indeed “trained as a spy.” On the topic of hacking: before the dust has settled in the wake of the United States' indictment, last week, of five Chinese military officials, China has tried to shift attention back to American cyber-spying. The Guardian tells us that a recently-unveiled Chinese government report outlines the “existence of snooping activities directed against China.” The document, released by China’s Internet Media Research Center, employs particularly diplomatic language: "The United States' spying operations have gone far beyond the legal rationale of 'anti-terrorism' and have exposed its ugly face of pursuing self-interest in complete disregard of moral integrity."  Well okay, then. The White House has launched an investigation into the accidental disclosure of the name of the top CIA official in Afghanistan. The Guardian has the story. Fighting has intensified in Ukraine after Sunday’s presidential election.  TIME reports that the clash is mostly contained in the East, with the Ukrainian government stepping up its military operations. An attempt by Russian-sympathizing rebels to seize an airport in Ukraine’s second largest city, Donetsk, was thwarted; reports suggest that Ukraine's military is slowly overpowering opposition forces. The Times updates us on the numerous dead on the rebel side, many among them Russian. Many hope to see progress towards reunification under the leadership of President-elect Petro Poroshenko---but the increase in violence in the East, and Poroshenko’s past comparison of the rebels to “Somali pirates," could threaten that goal. As the search for the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls continues, Boko Haram is not sitting quietly. Reuters informs us that Boko Haram gunmen attacked a Nigerian military base in the town of Buni Yadi yesterday and killed more than 30 people. Human Rights Watch, together with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, has released a report detailing the human rights implications of fully autonomous weapons with lethal capabilities. The report calls for an international convention preemptively banning the "robots," calling them an affront to human rights. Al Jazeera covers the report. Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.