How do you tell the story of the latest notice of violence in Syria, the devastating twinned car bombs in Damascus that killed at least 55 people, of Syria’s politics and the illegitimate government’s repression against its own people without …
How do you tell the story of the latest notice of violence in Syria, the devastating twinned car bombs in Damascus that killed at least 55 people, of Syria’s politics and the illegitimate government’s repression against its own people without …
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s broadly successful eight-day visit across Asia directly cemented India’s dominance as the regional power hub in South Asia, while also giving Bangladesh its due as an important regional ally.
Bangladesh was Clinton’s gateway into India, a figurative and literal go-between …
The deal President Obama recently signed in Kabul with his Afghan counterpart President Hamid Karzai ostensibly sequesters U.S troops on the ground in Afghanistan for the next twelve years. And then in 2024, so …
No description of what you or I might think is the experience of the people now suffering in the Sahel, in West Africa, can relieve us of our duty to help alleviate that suffering.
(This work, based on the reification and …
Perception is reality, here there and in Afghanistan; and for good reason, whatever the truth. After thirty years of near constant war the Afghan people might be forgiven for not being bothered to test their reality for truth, when often enough their lives are bought for cheap blood …
The assassination of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani is a signal of things to come: the Taliban have demonstrated that they have upper the hand over the Afghan military and police. The Taliban have shown that they are not weakening and that they will not settle the …
Ten years ago the story of the Taliban as a criminal organization began its unfolding international public narrative. Ten years ago the story of Islamist rebellion and insurgency in Afghanistan dovetailed directly with the story of American politics in the 21st century. That story is run …
On the occasion of Eid, the celebration at the end of the month of Ramadan, Mullah Omar declared the Taliban are willing to deal politically with the U.S and President Karzai’s government Kabul. The Taliban leader let it be known that even though …
Two days ago a mob of villagers stoned to death a Taliban commander and his body guard in the Nawa District of Helmand Province. The news had gone under-reported for some time even though the New York Times picked it up. Today a …
The report of the deadly twinned attack against the British Council in Kabul this morning serve to confirm the hypothesis that militants associated with the Taliban are ramping up their strategy to target civilians as well as military assets. The Taliban have claimed …
Afghanistan seems to be sinking- that is, whatever there is left to sink. Earlier this month, the King of Kandahar, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was assassinated and predictable political exchange immediately ground to a halt. The powerful thorn on the side of Afghan pols, General David Petraeus, …
Has the war in Afghanistan spread into Pakistan? Yes; the circumstantial evidence certainly points to just that. The argument for, and fact of, war rests partly on the strategy through which combat in Afghanistan and Pakistan is being conducted. That strategy is precisely this-counterterrorism, …
Ahmed Wali Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother and, seemingly, sole proprietor of Kandahar-the birth place of the Taliban in Afghanistan–has been assassinated by a close family associate. The reason behind the assassination has not been revealed.
This news fundamentally roils politics, strategy and hedging …
Recent events in Pakistan continue to roil the dysfunctional machinery of that country’s convoluted and stably corruptible domestic and international politics. U.S. leaders have indicated that there exists conclusive proof that the ISI, Pakistan’s vaunted, though suspiciously-embarrasingly- incompetent spy service was complicit in the murder of …
