However ugly the Taliban may be, there is a truly perverse sense of deja vu in watching British troops battle Pashtun insurgents. This would actually be “fourth time as farce,” given that there were three Anglo-Afghan Wars in the “Great… Read moreAfghanistan: Brits kill children —again
Pakistani security forces dynamited the homes of Maulana Fazlullah and his spokesman Maulana Sirajuddin Dec. 6 in the Swat Valley village of Imam Dehri, North-West Frontier Province. The Maulana’s madrassa was left intact. “The fate of the controversial seminary of… Read morePakistan: liquor found in raid on Taliban leader
An unpublished UN map leaked to the London Times in Kabul illustrates risk levels across the country for staff and aid workers with color shadings, revealing a sharp deterioration in security over the last two years. A similar map from… Read moreAfghanistan: no-go zones grow
Pervez Musharraf, who resigned Nov. 28 as Pakistan’s army chief, will be sworn in today as civilian president, resisting calls from opposition leaders to step down as head of state. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, former ISI chief, now takes over as… Read moreMusharraf becomes civil president; Taliban insurgency spreads
A suicide car bomber Nov. 27 detonated his payload near two armored vehicles used by US-led coalition troops in Kabul, killing at least two civilians and destroying the wall of a nearby house. The Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the attack…. Read moreAfghanistan: Hekmatyar, US air strikes kill civilians
Pakistan’s atomic weapons are secure, Muhammad Khurshid Khan, deputy director of Islamabad’s Strategic Plans Division, told a meeting of nuclear counter-terrorism specialists in Edinburgh Nov. 20. “There’s nothing to worry about the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,” Khan… Read moreNuclear fear in Pakistan
Army helicopter gunships continue to pound neo-Taliban positions in the Swat and Shangla districts of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, in an operation which has taken some 100 lives this week. Officials said a Taliban commander known as Matiullah was killed… Read morePakistan: neo-Taliban gain ground in NWFP
Um, didn’t we just hear identical news about Iraq? If Cambodia was Nixon’s “sideshow” to Vietnam, Afghanistan is Bush’s to Iraq—largely eclipsed from the headlines, even as it goes from really bad to considerably worse… From AP, Nov. 10: KABUL… Read more2007 deadliest year for US in Afghanistan
While we certainly don’t put it past the Taliban to blow up a bunch of schoolchildren to take out a couple of politicians, we note that this attack comes in the normally (relatively) peaceful north of the country, where the… Read moreAfghanistan: who is behind Baghlan suicide blast?
Within days of the 9-11 attacks, media speculation started that al-Qaeda was seeking nuclear weapons. Now it is starting to look like US actions could make that a self-fulfilling prophecy. Washington imposed sanctions on both Pakistan and India after their… Read morePakistan’s nukes up for jihadi grabs?
Five people were killed and six others wounded when a missile—allegedly fired from a US drone—hit a suspected militant compound in the restive North Waziristan region of Pakistan, near the Afghan border Nov. 2. Residents said a pilotless US drone… Read moreUS bombs Pakistan —again?
Japan has ordered the withdrawal of its two ships supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan following the government’s failure to agree a deal with the opposition to extend the mission beyond the end of its mandate on Nov. 1. The administration… Read moreJapan ends Afghan support mission
