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…
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.
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.
Thirty-three were arrested by Onondaga County sheriff’s deputies for protesting at upstate New York’s Hancock Field air base over the use of unmanned drones in Afghanistan.
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.
An Afghan soldier killed two British soldiers on a military base in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, on March 26. The Afghan soldier was killed by ISAF troops, who opened fire on the attacker. That same day, an… Read moreAfghanistan: whose side are security forces on?
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.
Two years ago when we reported revelations that two Czech NATO commanders in Afghanistan had worn Nazi SS regalia while on duty, everyone told is it was an isolated incident and not to make a big deal of it. What do you say now, pronoiacs?
The number of civilians killed in the Afghan conflict has risen for the fifth year in a row, according to the annual report of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, which documents 3,021 civilian deaths in 2011 compared with 2,790 in 2010.
In a Google-sponsored “video chat,” Obama gave the first public acknowledgment of the use of US drones in Pakistan—and said that drone strikes “enhance” US respect for the sovereignty of the target countries. (Insert Orwell reference here.)
The BBC says it has seen a “secret NATO report” that finds the Taliban continue to be heavily backed by Pakistan, are confident they can win the Afghan war, and are gaining popular support at the expense of the Kabul government.
A new survey by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates that the value of opium in Afghanistan soared by 133% in 2011 over the previous year, netting farmers $1.4 billion. Yields increased by 61%, from 3,600 to 5,800 tons.
