Who Runs the War? Nominate Your Own Afghan Power-Broker

President Barack Obama attends a briefing on Afghanistan in the Situation Room of the White House Oct. 9, 2009 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

WhoRunsGov.com and Foreign Policy invite you to participate in a collaborative contest to define the less visible Obama war counselors by contributing your knowledge to a profile nominated already or by nominating your own Afghan power-broker.

Who Runs the War? The contest runs from Dec. 8th to Dec. 23rd. The organizers will announce the top three profiles the week of Jan. 4, 2010, as judged by the strength of the cumulative case made by those who wrote them (WRG readers). Everyone who contributed content to a winning profile will receive a prize.

Contest prizes:

• First Place - Autographed copy of Peter Bergen’s book, “The Osama bin Laden I Know”
• Second Place - A Washington Post wind-breaker or jacket
• Third Place - Washington Post golf balls or business card-holder

Afghan experts, journalists and bloggers list their picks as to who they think has the most war clout inside the U.S. government.

Currently up with his top five picks is Parag Khanna, the Director of the Global Governance Initiative at the New America Foundation. He is author of the international best-seller The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order and advised U.S. officials in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007. His picks: Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal | Karl Eikenberry | Joseph R. Biden | Richard C. Holbrooke | James L. Jones

Click here to see Peter Bergen and Steve Walt's picks. Michael Goldfarb, the web editor at the Weekly Standard is also up with his six picks starting with Sarah Palin (R) (?!#).

WhoRunsGov.com, is a Washington Post Company site that profiles top policymakers and influencers on the web. A dedicated in-house editorial team seeded the site for the initial launch, but it is now open to the public and expert policymaking community for their contributions.