November 4, 2009 | 8:20 pm

Afghanistan: Which Way Forward?

Posted by  David A. Lehrer

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Now that the media frenzy relating to yesterday’s elections has run its course, it’s time to start focusing on more pressing issues than what the election of the new governor of Virginia really means for America.

An impending decision by the Obama administration—-what to do in Afghanistan—is one of the issues that ought to occupy our and the media’s attention. Unfortunately, much that is written and said about Afghanistan and America’s role there is superficial and comes from “mavens” with little expertise in either the region, security issues, or the Islamic world. The sound bites of ninety seconds that the news offers are often short on insight.

If you’d like to learn more from exceptionally well-informed experts in order to come to your own conclusion as to what we should be doing in Afghanistan, come to our Critical Issues Seminar next Wednesday, November 11 at the Autry National Center in Griffith Park (4700 Western Heritage Way—- at the junction of the 5 and 134 freeways in Griffith Park). The program begins at 7:00PM.

In a joint program with NPR station KPCC, Community Advocates is presenting a panel discussion entitled Afghanistan—-Which Way Forward?

  Larry Mantle, host of KPCC’s Airtalk, will moderate. Congressman Adam Schiff, a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and of the Committee on Foreign Operations, will join Dr. Kalev I. Sepp, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Dr. Reza Aslan, author of No God But God (a New York Times bestseller) and the upcoming Words Without Borders:Writings From the Middle East, to discuss where we should be going.

There is no admission fee for what promises to be a provocative and illuminating program that will be broadcast locally and nationally.