Jonathan “Jack” Idema, the last of three imprisoned US citizens convicted of illegal detention and torture in Afghanistan in 2004, was released June 2, Afghan authorities have confirmed. Idema, a former member of the US Army Special Forces, was arrested… Read moreAfghanistan: US citizen convicted of torturing detainees released
One Abdur Raziq contributes June 9 a brief account to the open-posting website Ground Report (“Where You Make the News”) of the Taliban crackdown on elements of traditional Pashtun culture which are considered “un-Islamic” in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas—Lakhtai dancing boys… Read morePakistan: Taliban threaten Lakhtai boys and “eunuch” dancers
Afghan president Hamid Karzai survived the third assassination attempt on his life on [June 10] when Taliban militants fired rockets at a building in which he was giving a speech [outside Kabul]. [The president is known as the “mayor of… Read moreAfghanistan: Karzai dodges rocket attack
Najib Manalai, an adviser to Afghanistan’s minister of culture and youth affairs, has described the Taliban [in an interview] as a composite of different elements, “hijacked by Pakistani intelligence services and by international terrorist groups.” While there exists de facto… Read moreDoes Pakistan control the Taliban?
Mansour Dadullah, new Taliban military commander since the death of his brother Mullah Dadullah in combat last month, told AlJazeera in an exclusive interview: “Sheikh Osama bin Laden is alive and active. He’s carrying out his duties. The latest proof… Read moreTaliban commander: Osama calls the shots
Two women journalists, Zakia Zaki and Sanga Amach, have been killed by gunmen in Afghanistan in the past week. Zaki, who was killed in an attack at her home late June 5, ran a private radio station, partially funded by… Read moreAfghanistan: women journalists assassinated
The US military said coalition and Afghan troops killed six Taliban fighters and arrested four in eastern Afghanistan May 30, but a provincial official and residents said the casualties were villagers. The coalition statement did not mention the location in… Read moreAfghanistan: more controversy over civilian casualties
At least 13 people were killed and more than 32 wounded in Shiberghan, capital of Afghanistan’s northern Jowzjan province, when police opened fire to break up a protest against governor Juma Khan Hamdard on May 28. Provincial spokesmen said protesters… Read moreAfghanistan: police fire on protesters in northern province
A US delegation is headed for Kabul to persuade President Hamid Karzai to approve a program of glyphosate spraying over the opium-producing lands of southeast Afghanistan. The private contractor Dyncorp is to carry out the spraying in cooperation with a… Read moreAfghanistan: Karzai resists glyphosate
Pakistani security forces clashed with militants at an al-Qaeda camp near the Afghan border May 22, leaving at least three dead. Maj.-Gen. Waheed Arshad, an army spokesman, said that after receiving reports about the training camp in North Waziristan, tribal… Read morePakistan: security forces raid al-Qaeda camp in Waziristan
Taliban leader Mullah Omar has formally confirmed the death of top commander Mullah Dadullah, through a spokesman, and nominated Mullah Bakht Mohammad as his replacement. The elusive Mullah Omar also claimed there are thousands of fighters ready to avenge Dadullah’s… Read moreAfghanistan: Taliban leadership shake-up, more border clashes with Pakistan
Two years ago, following rumors that Osama bin Laden had taken refuge in Nuristan, we warned that the remote mountain region immortalized as “Kafiristan” in Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King would be drawn into Afghanistan’s war. Now,… Read moreAfghanistan: war comes to Kipling’s “Kafiristan”
