Obama's Remarks at Richard Holbrooke's Memorial

Obama speaks first, then Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

Obama's Statement on Richard Holbrooke

Michelle and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Richard Holbrooke, a true giant of American foreign policy who has made America stronger, safer, and more respected. He was a truly unique figure who will be remembered for his tireless diplomacy, love of country, and pursuit of peace.

For nearly 50 years, Richard served the country he loved with honor and distinction. He worked as a young foreign service officer during the Vietnam War and then supported the Paris peace talks which ended that war. As a young Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, he helped normalize relations with China. As U.S. Ambassador to Germany, he helped Europe emerge from a long Cold War and encouraged NATO to welcome new members.

As Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, he was the tireless chief architect of the Dayton Accords that ended the war in Bosnia 15 years ago this week, saving countless lives. As Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard helped break a political impasse and strengthen our nation’s relationship with the UN and elevated the cause of AIDS and Africa on the international agenda. And throughout his life, as a child of refugees, he devoted himself to the plight of people displaced around the world.

When I became President, I was grateful that Richard agreed to serve as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The progress that we have made in Afghanistan and Pakistan is due in no small measure to Richard’s relentless focus on America’s national interest, and pursuit of peace and security. He understood, in his life and his work, that our interests encompassed the values that we hold so dear. And as usual, amidst his extraordinary duties, he also mentored young people who will serve our country for decades to come. One of his friends and admirers once said that, “If you’re not on the team and you’re in his way, God help you.” Like so many Presidents before me, I am grateful that Richard Holbrooke was on my team, as are the American people.

Earlier this evening at the State Department, I met with Richard’s wife Kati and their family, David, Anthony, Lizzie, Christopher and Sarah, and I spoke to Kati after Richard’s passing. I expressed to them the gratitude of the American people for his lifetime of service. They are in our thoughts and prayers tonight. Tonight, there are millions of people around the world whose lives have been saved and enriched by his work. As I said earlier this evening, the United States is safer and the world is more secure because of the half century of patriotic service of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.

Afghanistan and Pakistan Envoy Richard Holbrooke Has Died

ABC's Jake Tapper is reporting that Richard Holbrooke has died. Earlier today, Obama praised him:

McChrystal Derides Holbrooke Who is Targeted by Terrorists

Richard Holbrooke, envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, was targeted by suicide bombers, but is safe. Watch. Holbrooke is touring Afghanistan with McChrystal. Meanwhile, the petty Stanley McChrystal had this to say about Holbrooke:

McChrystal reserves special skepticism for Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. "The Boss says he's like a wounded animal," says a member of the general's team. "Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He's a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN, and you can't just have someone yanking on shit."

At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke," he groans. "I don't even want to open it." He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.

"Make sure you don't get any of that on your leg," an aide jokes, referring to the e-mail. Rolling Stone

Senior Official Resigns Over Afghanistan War

Matthew Hoh, a senior U.S. official in Afghanistan resigned in September. In his resignation letter (read it here), he said the U.S. is fueling the violence.

"I'm not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," Hoh said. Although he said his time in Zabul was the "second-best job I've ever had," his dominant experience is from the Marines, where many of his closest friends still serve.

"There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed," he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys."

But many Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there — a growing military presence in villages and valleys where outsiders, including other Afghans, are not welcome and where the corrupt, U.S.-backed national government is rejected. While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war.

As the White House deliberates over whether to deploy more troops, Hoh said he decided to speak out publicly because "I want people in Iowa, people in Arkansas, people in Arizona, to call their congressman and say, 'Listen, I don't think this is right.'" MSNBC

Hoh said the Afghan elections gave him further doubts:

Hoh's doubts increased with Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election, marked by low turnout and widespread fraud. He concluded, he said in his resignation letter, that the war "has violently and savagely pitted the urban, secular, educated and modern of Afghanistan against the rural, religious, illiterate and traditional. It is this latter group that composes and supports the Pashtun insurgency."

With "multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups," he wrote, the insurgency "is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies. The U.S. and Nato presence in Pashtun valleys and villages, as well as Afghan army and police units that are led and composed of non-Pashtun soldiers and police, provide an occupation force against which the insurgency is justified."

Hoh apparently has a lot of credibility. Higher ups, including Richard Holbrooke, took Hoh's letter seriously:

"We took his letter very seriously, because he was a good officer," Holbrooke said in an interview. "We all thought that given how serious his letter was, how much commitment there was, and his prior track record, we should pay close attention to him."

While he did not share Hoh's view that the war "wasn't worth the fight," Holbrooke said, "I agreed with much of his analysis." He asked Hoh to join his team in Washington, saying that "if he really wanted to affect policy and help reduce the cost of the war on lives and treasure," why not be "inside the building, rather than outside, where you can get a lot of attention but you won't have the same political impact?"

It sounds as though Hoh had a case of being a human. As humans become more enlightened, putting aside the rightwing, which is pushing back against progress, war becomes a foolish endeavor. Hoh, also a Marine, talks about his service in Iraq:

It wasn't until his third month home, in an apartment in Arlington, that it hit him like a wave. "All the things you hear about how it comes over you, it really did. . . . You have dreams, you can't sleep. You're just, 'Why did I fail? Why didn't I save that man? Why are his kids growing up without a father?' "

Like many Marines in similar situations, he didn't seek help. "The only thing I did," Hoh said, "was drink myself blind."

Read the whole story at WaPo

Major Policy Shift in Afghanistan Lays Off Poppy Fields

You won't find this story in much of our media, besides NPR, but the U.S. is changing its Afghanistan policy--for the better. The new policy of assisting those who trade their poppy fields to grow other crops is part of U.S. efforts to win hearts by rebuilding instead of tearing apart. The U.S. is also reducing air strikes.

President Barack Obama’s administration was making “significant adjustments” from the previous George W Bush administration in a bid to root out extremism, Richard Holbrooke told Congress. “We are downgrading our efforts to eradicate crops-spraying, a policy we think is totally ineffectual,” Holbrooke, the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in his testimony. The money spared would be devoted to stopping trafficking, pursuing drug lords and helping farmers grow other crops, he added.

“Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars we’ve spent on crop eradication has not done any damage to the Taliban. On the contrary, it’s helped them recruit,” Holbrooke said. “In my experience,” the veteran US diplomat and negotiator said, “this is the least effective programme ever.” Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world’s heroin, much of which emanates from the southern province of Helmand, where Taliban-led insurgents are waging a bloody campaign against international and Afghan forces. Critics of previous US policy, even within the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, feared that the United States was pushing impoverished peasants to the Taliban by destroying their key cash crop while funding the extremists.

Holbrooke said the Obama administration was instead focusing on ramping up agricultural aid to provide Afghans with alternative livelihoods. But his view was challenged by Representative Mark Souder, a member of Bush’s Republican Party. Afghanistan was already “the breadbasket of the world” until poppy became more lucrative, he said. “There has to be some disincentive to plant heroin in addition to an incentive to plant other crops,” Souder said. “It will not suffice to say, ‘Plant corn,’ when you can get incredible amounts more dollars” with poppy, he said.
....
New view: Separately, US Gen Stanley McChrystal has said that US and other NATO troops must make a “cultural shift” away from being a force designed for high intensity combat and instead make protecting Afghan civilians their first priority. The newly arrived four-star commander said on Wednesday he hopes to install a new military mindset by drilling into troops the need to reduce the number of Afghan civilians killed in combat. McChrystal is expected to formally announce new combat rules within days that will order troops to break away from fights – if they can do so safely – if militants are firing from civilian homes.Daily Times

The G-8 welcomes the policy shift:

The G-8 foreign ministers "strongly appreciated" the policy shift, Frattini said. Costa, of the U.N., said the new focus "seems to be the winning strategy, and I'm glad that all of this has received support from the G-8 ministers."

The G-8 ministers along with Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadfar Spanta issued a statement at the end of their three-day summit Saturday saying it was urgent to find alternatives for farming communities where "narco-trafficking and extremism are endemic."

They said sustainable farming was key to Afghanistan's and Pakistan's future in that it would boost incomes, create jobs, improve rural development and lower regional tensions.

"Food insecurity and chronic poverty are root causes of civil instability and forced migration," the statement said. Read more at NPR

Pakistan Reaches Cease Fire With Taliban

But no one knows yet if this is a good thing.

Holbrooke Arrives in Afghanistan Amid Violence

IHT: President Barack Obama's special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan landed here Thursday to help chart the president's strategy for peace in this volatile country, a day after a bold Taliban assault demonstrated the insurgency's ability to wreak havoc even in the tightly guarded capital.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman confirmed Richard Holbrooke's arrival late in the day, but declined to give further details about his location or the schedule for his multi-day visit.

Holbrooke's first visit to the country came amid an increasing sense that the security situation was disintegrating in and around Kabul. On Wednesday, Taliban fighters launched one of their most audacious attacks on the capital, killing 20 people in a coordinated assault on three government buildings.

Government officials said the mastermind behind the attacks was based in Pakistan, a reminder of the cross-border violence and disputes that have made the battle against the Taliban so difficult. One of Holbrooke's roles as envoy to both countries is to help the Obama administration design a strategy that will combat the Taliban regionally. He is set to meet with President Hamid Karzai and other officials. 

Obama may send more troops before the strategy review of the region is done:

Obama is facing a choice on whether to grant commanders' requests for additional troops in Afghanistan before he has decided on his new strategy there, Helene Cooper of The New York Times reported from Washington.

While the decision is expected to be the first significant military move of his presidency, defense officials said that Obama could choose a middle ground, deploying several thousand more troops there in the coming months but postponing a more difficult judgment on a much larger increase in personnel until after the administration completes a review of Afghanistan policy.

The officials said that Obama may deploy one or two additional brigades, between 3,500 and 7,000 soldiers. IHT

From the Penatgon Channel:

Obama Administration Crafting New Pakistan and Afghanistan Strategy

The Obama administration will address the drug trade and terrorist sanctuary problems in Pakistan and Afghanistan as part of the new strategy:

Baltimore Sun: The Obama White House, in concert with the State Department and the Pentagon, is crafting a new strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan, a process that is not complete, officials said.

Key parts of the new strategy will deal with narcotics and the sanctuaries problem.

President Barack Obama is tentatively scheduled to meet next week with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to review strategy options, including schedules to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq over the next 16 to 18 months and plans to add troops in Afghanistan.

Senior officials at the Pentagon and the White House have long been concerned about Afghanistan's drug industry, which provides about 92 percent of the world's heroin supply. The cultivation of poppies and the processing and sale of heroin provide about $400 million a year to the Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents, according to United Nations and U.S. intelligence officials.

It's ironic and sad that the U.S. is probably one of the terrorists' largest customers, seeing that we're big users of heroin.
Joe said on Face the Nation that as more troops arrive in Afghanistan, more American deaths will occur. Logical. 

AP: Biden said Sunday that additional U.S. forces will be engaging the enemy more. Asked if that means the U.S. public should expect more American casualties, the vice president said: "I hate to say it, but yes, I think there will be. There will be an uptick."

It looks like the Obama administration is going to laser focus on Pakistan, where Taliban terrorists are now using radio to announce who they are going to kill:

NYT: Using a portable radio transmitter, a local Taliban leader, Shah Doran, on most nights outlines newly proscribed “un-Islamic” activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticizing the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school. He also reveals names of people the Taliban have recently killed for violating their decrees — and those they plan to kill.

“They control everything through the radio,” said one Swat resident, who declined to give his name for fear the Taliban might kill him. “Everyone waits for the broadcast.”

International attention remains fixed on the Taliban’s hold on Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal areas, from where they launch attacks on American forces in Afghanistan. But for Pakistan, the loss of the Swat Valley could prove just as devastating.

What the U.S. is up against:

NYT: Ever since the Bush administration diverted its attention — and resources — to the war in Iraq from the war in Afghanistan, military planners and foreign policy experts have bemoaned the dearth of troops to keep that country from sliding back into Taliban control. And in that time, the insurgency blossomed, as Taliban militants took advantage of huge swaths of territory, particularly in the south, that NATO troops weren’t able to fill.

Enter Mr. Obama. During the campaign he promised to send two additional brigades — 7,000 troops — to Afghanistan. During the transition, military planners started talking about adding as many as 30,000 troops. And within days of taking office, Mr. Obama announced the appointment of Richard Holbrooke, architect of the Balkan peace accords, to execute a new Afghanistan policy.

But even as Mr. Obama’s military planners prepare for the first wave of the new Afghanistan “surge,” there is growing debate, including among those who agree with the plan to send more troops, about whether — or how — the troops can accomplish their mission, and just what the mission is.

Afghanistan has, after all, stymied would-be conquerors since Alexander the Great. It’s always the same story; the invaders — British, Soviets — control the cities, but not the countryside. And eventually, the invaders don’t even control the cities, and are sent packing.

Think Iraq was hard? Afghanistan, former Secretary of State Colin Powell argues, will be “much, much harder.”

The Bush administration not tough enough on Karzai?

NYT: Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, the darling of the Bush administration, has begun to lose his luster; American and European officials now express private frustration over his refusal to arrest drug lords who have been running the opium trade.

Mr. Karzai has also been widely criticized for not cracking down enough on corruption. And diplomats say his distaste for venturing far beyond his fortified presidential palace in Kabul reinforces the divide between Afghanistan’s central government and its largely rural population, giving the Taliban free rein in the countryside.

Before sending in more American troops, argues Andrew Bacevich, an international relations professor at Boston University, Mr. Obama should figure out if he is going to change an underlying American policy that has shrunk from putting pressure on Mr. Karzai.

“It seems there’s a rush to send in more reinforcements absent the careful analysis that’s most needed here,” said Mr. Bacevich, author of “The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.”

The current troop levels and how many are needed:

Baltimore Sun: Conway, who serves on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is prepared to provide up to 20,000 Marines for Afghanistan, a tenfold increase over the number deployed there.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David D. McKiernan, has asked Washington to provide three more combat brigades, an aviation brigade and thousands of additional combat engineers, military police, and specialists in civil affairs, information operations and logistics - about 30,000 troops in all.

Currently there are 32,000 American troops in Afghanistan and an additional 30,000 NATO forces under McKiernan's command.

Some say more troops alone won't help. Obama seems to know that.

NYT: Can 30,000 more troops help with that objective?

J. Alexander Their, an Afghanistan expert at the United States Institute of Peace, argues that additional troops can form a basis for stability, but that their presence will be for naught unless there is also government reform. “The Afghan population, particularly in the rural areas, have a strong degree of ambivalence toward the government,” he said. “People expect very little from government, or expect bad things. Yet we’ve ignored government reform and rule of law as part of our strategy.”

The appointment of Mr. Holbrooke as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan may signal the direction that the Obama administration will take there. In the past, Mr. Holbrooke has written — as he did in a column in The Washington Post last spring — that in Afghanistan, “massive, officially sanctioned corruption and the drug trade are the most serious problems the country faces, and they offer the Taliban its only exploitable opportunity to gain support.”

And during her confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Afghanistan a “narco-state” with a government “plagued by limited capacity and widespread corruption.” So an Obama administration may, indeed, look for ways to press Mr. Karzai to crack down on corruption and drug trafficking.

Pakistan Urges Obama to Stop Missile Strikes

Update: The Washington Post has a new story that sums up what's going on in Pakistan. Read it here.
Juan Williams of NPR said this morning that Obama authorized the missile strikes yesterday that killed up to 22 militants and apparently some civilians (there have been a number of estimates). Joe Biden, who recently visited Pakistan, will be on Face the Nation tomorrow, so we should get some more details. Obama hasn't commented on the strikes but appointed Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pakistan is urging Obama to stop:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan urged President Barack Obama to halt U.S. missile strikes on al-Qaida strongholds near the Afghan border, saying Saturday that civilians were killed the previous day in the first attacks since Obama's inauguration.

Pakistani security officials said eight suspected foreign militants, including an Egyptian al-Qaida operative, were among 22 people killed in Friday's twin strikes in the Waziristan region.

But the Foreign Ministry said that the attacks by unmanned aircraft also killed an unspecified number of civilians and that it had informed U.S. officials of its "great concern."

"With the advent of the new U.S. administration, it is Pakistan's sincere hope that the United States will review its policy and adopt a more holistic and integrated approach toward dealing with the issue of terrorism and extremism," a ministry statement said.

"We maintain that these attacks are counterproductive and should be discontinued," it said.

Pakistani leaders complain that stepped-up missile strikes _ there have been more than 30 since August _ fan anti-American sentiment and undermine the government's own efforts to counter Islamist militants.

Hillary, Holbrooke, Mitchell and Peacemaking

Richard Holbrooke and George Mitchell are about to renew the peacemaking efforts in Afghanistan/Pakistan and Israel/Middle East, respectively. WorldFocus roundtable discusses Middle East Peace prospects, Guantanamo and China.

Obama Picks Mitchell and Holbrooke to Represent

Swamp: Trying to make good on the promise of his campaign and inauguration speech to raise diplomacy's role in U.S. foreign policy, President Obama visited the State Department on his second full day in office where he proclaimed a "new era of American leadership" in international affairs.

The president joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department for the announcement of the new administration's emissaries to two of the world's most troubled regions. Former Sen. George Mitchell was named the administration's special envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority while Amb. Richard Holbrooke will become special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"My appearance today... underscores my commitment to the importance of diplomacy in renewing American leadership," Obama told an audience filled with career foreign service officials. "...Let there be no doubt about America's commitment to lead. We can no longer afford drift, and we can no longer afford delay, nor can we cede ground to those who seek destruction."

Obama askes Israel to open borders with Gaza:

Aljazeera: Barack Obama, the US president, has called on Israel to open its borders with Gaza to humanitarian aid and commerce in his first public remarks on the crisis there since becoming president.

Obama, who said he was deeply concerned about the loss of life in Gaza, also reiterated the US view that Israel had a right to defend itself from Palestinian rocket attacks.

"Now we must extend a hand of opportunity to those who seek peace, as part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza's border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce," Obama said.
The US leader was speaking at the state department as he named George Mitchell, former peace negotiator in Northern Ireland, as US special envoy for the Middle East.

Obama also reiterated the US backing for international demands made of the Hamas movement - that it recognise Israel, end violence and agree to recognise previous peace agreements with Israel.

He said the US would support efforts to end weapons smuggling across the Gaza border from Egypt.

However, he called for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza following its offensive, and said the US would provide humanitarian and economic assistance to the millions of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera Obama's remarks seemed to show that the US viewed the situation through "Israeli eyes".

The devastation in Gaza is said to be shocking:

MSNBC: Opening a five-day trip to the region, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes called the steep Palestinian casualty toll from Israel's offensive "extremely shocking" and suggested the United Nations might ask Israel to compensate it for wartime damage to U.N. compounds in Gaza. Hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid were destroyed by Israeli shelling that struck the main U.N. compound.

Mitchell says peace in the Middle East is possible. 
Here's Holbrooke talking in November about how to approach Afghanistan and Russia:

Obama envoy announcement transcript.

Joe Biden Visits Pakistan With Lindsey Graham

Obama's busy behind the scenes. That's for sure. His national security team advised that Joe head to Asia. Today, Biden and Graham, John McCain's buddy, met with Pakistani leaders.

CBS: Obama's national security team suggested the visit to help the new administration get an on-the-ground sense of the situation in those countries.

Biden, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had planned to travel with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the incoming chairman of committee, and Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Those three bowed out of the group, citing Senate votes scheduled this weekend.

....Biden and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham met with President Asif Ali Zadari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, aides said. The bipartisan pair also discussed counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and the economy with interior adviser Rehman Malik and Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.

In a statement, Gilani said he pressed upon Biden the importance of greater U.S. aid to improve Pakistan's military capacity. Biden has spearheaded legislation to increase humanitarian spending in Pakistan but that also links military aid to Islamabad's performance in the fight against militants.

Gilani also said the two countries should share more intelligence so Pakistan could go after militant targets on its own, removing the need for U.S. missile strikes on its territory. Pakistan routinely condemns such strikes by the U.S.

Biden aides did not disclose their schedule for security reasons, but the public descriptions of the trip suggested destinations such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The United States has a strong interest in the stability of Pakistan's weak civilian government because it is considered an ally in the region.
....

Biden's trip just days before becoming vice president was a clear signal that President-elect Barack Obama's new administration plans to make an immediate priority the battle against al-Qaida and Taliban militants operating along the Pakistan-Afghan border. U.S. officials worry that a conflict with India could distract Pakistan from eliminating militant sanctuaries along the Afghan frontier, and have urged India and Pakistan to cooperate.

Joe got an award while he was there:

AP: The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said Zardari bestowed an award on Biden, the "Hilal-i-Pakistan," to recognize the veteran politician's "consistent support for democracy and socio-economic development in Pakistan and for his outstanding contribution to the strengthening of U.S.-Pakistan relations."

What India is saying:

NEW DELHI: The Mumbai attacks may have showed more than anything else that terrorism from Pakistan is unconnected with the Kashmir issue, but India is still bracing itself for a period of difficult diplomacy with the US.

The possible appointment of Richard Holbrooke as special envoy for Pakistan-Afghanistan is not a surprise and the incoming Barack Obama administration has acknowledged India's sensitivity to the issue by removing India from his "beat". This is an "evolution" from the time Obama declared he wanted to send former president Bill Clinton to "do" Kashmir.

In fact, the ongoing visit by US vice-president elect Joe Biden to Pakistan - but not to India - to get a first-hand view of the situation is also intended to emphasise the different trajectories Obama says he wants to pursue in this region.

So far so good. Difficulties will arise with India because Obama believes that the path to a peaceful Afghanistan runs through a Kashmir "resolution". As the US gets more involved in disentangling Pakistan and Afghanistan from terrorism, Taliban and al-Qaida, it will be tempting for Democrats to push a "Kashmir solution" as a carrot for Pakistan to undertake tough policies on its northwestern border.

Meanwhile, John McCain says republicans need to work with Obama. McCain likes the Panetta pick: