Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech to the Atlantic Council to mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The speech focused on the administration’s new agenda for freedom and democracy promotion, seeking a renewed US-European partnership to combat global terrorism, human rights violations, climate change and the spread […]
In the past week or so there have been growing signs that the Obama administration is likely to choose an Afghan strategy closer to McChrystal’s counterinsurgency plan than VP Joe Biden’s counterterrorism stance. However, most of these signs do not come directly from the administration as they have been rather tight-lipped and mainly just voiced […]
Countries within the Southern Hemisphere are on the move. This past weekend member states of UNASUR and the African Union met on Margarita Island, Venezuela, in order to strengthen ties between their countries and continents. One of the ideas proposed by President Hugo Chávez, as well as Moammar Gadhafi, of Libya, is an alliance among […]
Excuse me World, how are you feeling about the NATO presence in Afghanistan? What are your thoughts about a possible return to rule by the Taliban? While WorldPublicOpinion.org asked the world, well almost 65% of it (actually just a few thousand scattered people), to share their thoughts on such questions in a recent survey last […]
“Pakistan Objects to U.S. Plan for Afghanistan War” reads a New York Times article yesterday updating us on our foreign policy. The article forewarns of “fissures” in the U.S. Pakistan alliance at this critical moment when President Obama sends additional troops to the region. The article specifically outlines Pakistan’s insistence on maintaining forces along the […]
Mourners gathered in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica to honor the victims and mark the anniversary of the bloodiest massacres during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. War crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic led his troops in July 1995 into the U.N. safe-haven of Srebrenica and “stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and […]
Quick little round up… McKiernan officially out, McChrystal officially in as the top US and overall commander of forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal, known for his special ops strategic strikes in Iraq, has been hammering the point that protecting Afghan civilians is what will bring a change in the conflict’s direction. He is already reviewing troop […]
I woke up this morning, opened my laptop, and took a look at my Afghan feeder and found one theme in yesterday’s news, death. If anyone needed to be shown how troubled the conflict still was all they need to hear are these three troubling and sad stories: Afghan officials are reporting that NATO airstrikes […]
Here are some Afghan-related issues to Check Out! Check out this intriguing story of the Last Jew in Afghanistan, which features a five minute video interview of you got it, the last Jew in Afghanistan. The short documentary by Oliver Englehart, profiles Zablon Simantov, a Jewish resident of Kabul, explains why he remains despite his […]
Afghanistan is once again in the news for many reasons. First off, Elina at FPA’s Central Asia blog has reported that not only has the US officially secured a transit route through Uzbekistan, but also that Kyrgyzstan is actually still considering allowing the US to stay at the Manas Air Base. Hmmm. Secondly, Sec of […]
While the Euros were skimping on troops, I found these two worthwhile videos about Afghanistan. The first features Fariba Nawa, an award-winning Afghan-American journalist, attempting to provide her audience with an Afghani view of the US/NATO presence in their country. In her short talk, Nawa argues that what most Afghans fear is that the US […]
With a ‘hello‘ between US Envoy Richard Holbrooke and an Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister garnering the most media attention, the International Conference on Afghanistan was underway at The Hague in Netherlands. This major conference features a geopolitical who’s who of actors influenced by the conflict, including representatives from Pakistan, Iran (wow, I didn’t know they […]
Today’s New York Times featured two contrasting views of how the US should fight the Afghan insurgency and prevent international terrorism from breeding in the region. Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, while asserting that defeating the Taliban threat is ‘not achievable’, argues for a steady military drawback from the conflict, […]