Today's Headlines and Commentary

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is in Washington today to meet with President Obama and American military and diplomatic leaders. The New York Times examines the White House’s relationship with both the Afghan leader and his predecessor. According to War on the Rocks, “Ghani is in many ways the anti-Karzai. As someone who was educated in the West, worked on development issues at the World Bank, and served as the minister of finance in the Afghan transitional government from 2002-2004, he represents everything Karzai is not – a practical Western technocrat with deep ties to the United States and international institutions.”

Indeed, Ghani began his trip by thanking the U.S. for its support of his country. At the Pentagon, he paid “tribute” to the American military personnel, who served in Afghanistan, saying, “Each one of you has left a legacy, but I also understand that Afghanistan has marked you… thank you.” He noted, “You built schools, you built dams, you build roads, and while the physical infrastructure is great and it’s changed lives, it is the attitude that you brought with it. An attitude of caring, and attitude of discipline and sacrifice, and the Afghan people, but particularly the Afghan security forces honor that attitude.” Defense One shares more on the Ghani’s statements.

Ghani is using such praise and gratitude to push for increased American security and development support for his country. This plan appears to be working: Yesterday, U.S. officials vowed “to seek billions of dollars in new support for Afghan security forces.” Furthermore, President Obama is expected to announce a revised troop withdrawal plan today. Per the Wall Street Journal, the new proposal would leave American military forces in Afghanistan for longer than originally outlined.

Ghani and Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah have an op-ed in the Washington Post, covering their country’s partnership with the U.S. and efforts toward “transformation.”

The Associated Press informs us that hundreds of protesters in Kabul yesterday sought justice “for a woman beaten to death ... by a mob over false allegations she had burned a Quran. The mob of men beat the woman, a religious scholar named Farkhunda, 27, threw her body off a roof, ran over it with a car, set it on fire and threw it into the Kabul River.”

An American drone strike in Afghanistan today killed nine members of the Pakistani Taliban. Reuters reports the story.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State appears to be extending its reach to Afghanistan. CNN shares an exclusive report on the group’s recruitment efforts there.

The AP informs us that today, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce a one-year extension of his country’s efforts to fight the Islamic State. Since September, Canadian troops have been training Kurdish forces in Iraq. During an announcement in Parliament, however, Prime Minister Harper will announce an extension of this mission “to include air strikes on targets in Syria.”

After battling for four weeks to take complete control of Tikrit, Iraqi military leaders have decided on a new course of action: They will seal off the part of the city still held by Islamic State militants and consolidate their forces in preparation for securing Anbar and Ninevah provinces. The Times details the plan.

The Wall Street Journal informs us that the Islamic State is “skimming tens of millions of dollars a month from salaries paid to Iraqi government employees in occupied areas such as Mosul.” The practice has put U.S. officials in an uncomfortable position: Should it encourage Baghdad to stop paying these employees, leaving them without any income or means of subsistence, or allow the Islamic State to continue funding operations using Iraqi government funds?

Over the weekend, the Islamic State Hacking Division shared a video on YouTube, which provided the names, pictures, and alleged addresses of over a hundred American military personnel. The group urged its followers to attack the individuals listed, saying “Now we have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for?” Defense One describes the practice, known as doxxing, which involves “revealing personal, private, or identifying information about people online,” and notes that it has actually been around for a while.

The Times examines how Abdi Nur, a 20-year-old man from Minneapolis, became a radicalized foreign fighter for the Islamic State. According to the Times, Nur’s rather prolific Twitter feed evidences an obvious-in-hindsight progression from community college to the Syrian battlefield. Meanwhile, given the lack of “pattern among recruits,” American law enforcement personnel still struggle “to identify people attracted to the terror group in time to intervene.”

The Post highlights the Twitter campaign being waged by female Islamic State recruits, whose “propaganda messages... often have a positive theme, showing the benefits and normality of day-to-day life within the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that Israel has been spying on “the closed-door” P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran. According to Obama administration officials, “The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program.” The episode has allegedly further weakened already strained ties between President Obama and Israeli Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lee Kuan Yew, the “founder of modern Singapore,” died yesterday. The Post examines the legacy of the man, who served as the country’s first Prime Minister and held office for over thirty years.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shares an op-ed in the Post, honoring and eulogizing Lee.

Jeff Robbins, a former U.S. delegate to the U.N. Human Rights Council, has an op-ed in the Boston Herald, detailing the Kurdish people’s fight to establish an independent state.

Last week, the Defense Health Board released a report on ethical guidelines for American military medical personnel. The “new policy proposals [contained therein] advise the Pentagon against punishing doctors and nurses who choose to opt out of medical procedures if they believe the practices are unethical or immoral.” Vice News notes that, if enacted, this policy would allow U.S. military doctors and nurses to refuse to participate in Guantanamo Bay’s controversial force-feeding program without having to worry about being dishonorably discharged.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Jack outlined U.S. engagement in economic espionage and shared two thoughts on it.

Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger shared the first of four excerpts from their recently released book, ISIS: The State of Terror. In this initial installation, they discussed some of the innovations that the Islamic State has brought to its administration of government.

Marko Milanovic analyzed recently published survey data from Amnesty International, focusing on how citizenship bias affects public perceptions of the acceptability of government surveillance of foreigners.

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.