Afghanistan

Pakistan: doctor who helped CIA not convicted for ties to US

Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the US government find Osama bin Laden was convicted last week for his association to a militant group in Pakistan, not for his ties to the US Central Intelligence Agency, as was originally reported.

Afghanistan

Tribal jurisdiction at issue in Pakistan treason case

John McCain’s demand that Pakistan pardon Dr. Shakeel Afridi, convicted of treason for helping the CIA locate Osama bin Laden, may not even be possible. Afridi was tried by a tribal court where Islamabad is constitutionally barred from interfering.

Afghanistan

NATO summit and “shadow summit” both betray Afghan women

As NATO chiefs in Chicago broached negotiations with the Taliban, Amnesty International convened a “Shadow Summit” where women’s groups rejected the idea—while supporting the US/NATO occupation that collaborates with fundamentalist warlords.

Afghanistan

Anti-war roots of Mother’s Day: forgotten history

Julia Ward Howe conceived the holiday as an anti-war statement in 1870, in response to the Franco-Prussian carnage. But the pacifists who rescue this legacy from oblivion unfortunately engage in their own historical revisionism…

Afghanistan

Pakistan: protest “genocide” of Hazara

Members of Pakistan’s Shi’ite Hazara ethnic minority held protests in London and Hamburg, charging “genocide” against their people with the complicity of the Islamabad regime—and the silence of the international community.

Afghanistan

Obama wins Afghan deal for extended troop presence

As the Taliban announce the start of their spring offensive, Obama signs a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Hamid Karzai allowing a major US military presence in Afghanistan beyond the supposed withdrawal deadline of the end of 2014.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan between two poles of terrorism

The Taliban launched coordinated attacks in the Afghan capital and three other provinces—days after hundreds marched in Faryab province to protest a NATO-led night raid that resulted in the death of a madrassa teacher.

Afghanistan

Afghan “surge” of military advisors amid anti-US protests

The next round of deployments to Afghanistan was announced amid a wave of anti-US protests. Five brigades and one army command will train and support the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), an unprecedentedly large training mission.