By Andrew Person

Best Defense department of personnel-as-policy affairs

After over a decade spent fighting in Afghanistan, American officers are still having their first cups of tea with key Afghan leaders in government, tribes, and villages. As I argue in a piece I wrote for  the Small Wars Journal titled "Getting Past the First Cup of Tea" (available on page 10 at  this link ), the Lazy Susan style rotation of American leadership in Afghanistan makes our mission impossible.

What would an alternative model look like? If the U.S. had established a permanent cadre of military leaders on the ground in Afghanistan from the outset, with the understanding that they would serve there for the duration of the war, these leaders could have built the personal relationships and knowledge required to effectively wage a counterinsurgency campaign. Viewing the past ten years of the war with 20/20 hindsight, it seems clear that such an approach would have dramatically improved our chances of success.

Fans tend to think of tennis trophies as clunky cups and plates of the sort duly distributed at the conclusion of grand slam events.

For much of the rest of the season, however, winners are handed unconventional trophies, from silver dhows (Dubai) to crystal rackets (Toronto) to chunks of alpine rock (Gstaad), and perhaps none is as curious as the Ion Tiriac Trophy awarded at the Madrid Open.

Roger Federer and Serena Williams got their hands on the bizarre trophy over the weekend, and a bemused Williams decided it reminded her of a light sabre from Star Wars and began swinging it.