President Obama announces the already leaked shuffle of his naitonal seucrity team. DCI Leon Panetta replaces Bob Gates as Secretary of Defence; Gen. David Patraeus replaces Panetta as head of the CIA. Gen. John Allen will take over for Patraeus in Afghanistan.

In the wake of General McChrystal’s firing, supporters of his counterinsurgency strategy have shifted to the blame game. Their target? US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry. But is Eikenberry really at fault, or has he been right all along?

The Rolling Stone article appears to be a McChrystal-led effort to shore up his tough guy cred. But the actual content of the story shows that tough guy cred won’t win you a war in Afghanistan.

The problem in Afghanistan is not picking the right or wrong counterinsurgency strategy, but picking any military strategy at all.

McChrystal and Eikenberry’s plan for measuring progress is absolutely required if we care at all about the truth in Afghanistan. However, the variable in this plan is not necessarily the ability to produce these assessments, but access to the reliable, accurate information sources which provide the backbone of these assessments.

The New York Times has obtained full copies of two cables Ambassador Karl Eikenberry sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the most recent review of Afghanistan strategy. Although it was known at the time that Eikenberry opposed McChyrstal’s strategy based primarily on counterinsurgency, having access to the full text of the cables provides more detail on Eikenberry’s reasoning.

Matthew Hoh, the highest ranking U.S. official to resign over policy on Afghanistan, discusses the predicament of military activity in that country with Daniel Ellsberg.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told Reuters today that it will be at least another week — in other words, after Thanksgiving — before President Obama announces his new strategy for Afghanistan (not to be confused, of course, with his previous new strategy from earlier this year).

Meanwhile, though, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wasn’t waiting to reiterate her assessment of the situation.

The Progressive Caucus just sent a letter to President Obama asking for a meeting to discuss “a comprehensive rethinking of our military mission, a complete redesign of our reconstruction and stabilization strategy and a courageous reconciliation strategy for Afghanistan.”

Matthew Hoh, the highest-ranking foreign service officer to resign his post in Afghanistan, says he completely understands US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry’s move to privately speak out against an escalation of forces, given the corrupt central government in place in the country.