January 2013 could see the swearing in of a new president who will inherit a number of foreign policy challenges from the Obama Administration.  Over the course of the next few months, this column will take a look at some of these challenges and offer recommendations.  We begin with Afghanistan.

As the “Super Committee” strives to trim $1.2 trillion from the federal budget, many conservatives have expressed concern about the potential for massive, arbitrary cuts to defense spending.  They point out that $350 billion has already been slashed from the defense budget, and insist that it would be dangerous to cut one dollar more.  Worse yet, if the Super Committee cannot come to an agreement, defense will be cut by an automatic $600 billion.