The Taliban, it seems, are a bunch of posers. If they were for real in their rejection of modernity, they would want cellular telephones banned on principle, and not merely to prevent the whereabouts of their apparently cellphone-addicted militants being… Read moreTaliban threaten cell phone companies
Oops, he did it again. While it has gone largely unnoticed in US media coverage, press outlets on the subcontinent are noting (with trepidation or glee) alarmingly bellicose comments by Barack Obama at the Austin Democratic presidential debate Feb. 21… Read moreObama rattles saber at Pakistan —again
Divided over whether to boycott the polls, Islamist parties were among the biggest losers in Pakistan’s general elections. Islamists participated in the 2002 elections under the banner of the six-party Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), and secured 66 seats in the National… Read morePakistan elections: Islamists lose —despite intimidation
Three bombings in as many days have left 140 dead in Afghanistan’s Canadian-occupied Kandahar province. More than 100 were killed in a suicide attack on a dog-fighting competition on the outskirts of Kandahar city attended by local luminaries Feb. 17…. Read moreKandahar carnage; Canada sends in the drones
A guardedly optimistic op-ed, “In Pakistan, Islam Needs Democracy,” appears in the Feb. 16 New York Times by one Waleed Ziad of the Truman National Security Project, a think-tank that “unites Americans who believe equally in strong liberal values, and… Read morePakistan: Sufis make NYT op-ed page
A car bomber killed ten people, including a candidate in upcoming [local] elections, in northwest Pakistan when he slammed his vehicle into the candidate’s convoy [Feb. 11]. Nisar Ali Khan was due to run as an independent, but was thought… Read morePakistan: secular Pashtuns under attack
Pakistani Taliban fighters led by commander Baitullah Mehsud Feb. 6 announced the suspension of attacks against security forces in the Waziristan tribal region and the Swat valley for an indefinite period. Maulvi Muhammad Omar, a spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan,… Read morePakistan: Taliban declare truce; army declares victory
Some 200 Afghans protested at the UN office in Kabul Jan. 31 against the death sentence passed against Perwiz Kambakhsh, a reporter convicted of blasphemy. The protest was organized by the small Solidarity Party of Afghanistan. The upper house of… Read moreAfghanistan: civil society stands up to political Islam
Wanted al-Qaeda figure Abu Laith al-Libi was killed in Pakistan by a CIA air-strike, anonymous officials told CNN. Al-Libi was said to have been behind several attacks on US forces in Afghanistan, including the February 2007 bombing at Bagram Air… Read moreAl-Qaeda superstar bites it: CIA
Hundreds of Afghans chanted anti-US slogans in Ghazni Jan. 24 to protest the deaths of nine police, including a district commander, who local officials said were killed the previous day in an anti-Taliban operation by coalition troops. The coalition denied… Read moreAfghans protest US air-strikes
Hundreds of Islamic militants armed with mortars and rocket-launchers overran a fort at Sararogha, in Pakistan’s tribal borderlands Jan. 15, killing some 20 paramilitary troops of the South Waziristan Scouts and taking several more captive. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement… Read moreNATO to intervene in Pakistan?
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Jan. 16 he believes NATO forces currently deployed in southern Afghanistan “don’t know how to do counterinsurgency operations.” Most of the NATO troops in the south are British, Canadian and Dutch, while those in… Read moreCanadian death toll hits 78 in Afghanistan
