Pashtun tribesmen loyal to Pakistan’s government exchanged mortar and rocket fire with purported al-Qaeda militants in South Waziristan for a third day March 21, leaving at least 114 dead. Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said 84 Uzbek militants and 30 local… Read morePakistan: battle escalates for Waziristan
Another appalling op-ed in the New York Times March 5, this one arguing that an amnesty for war criminals is “good for Afghan democracy.” This Orwellian exercise, “New Justice, No Peace,” is by Richard May, a fellow with the World… Read moreNYT op-ed: Afghan impunity “good for democracy”
Pakistan’s daily Dawn reports March 2 that the country’s security forces have captured Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, deputy to the elusive Taliban chief, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The newspaper cited a government official in Quetta, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Mullah… Read morePakistan cracking down on Taliban —or backing them?
Around 25,000 rallied in the Afghan capital Kabul Feb. 22, calling for a war crimes amnesty for former Mujahedeen commanders to be made law. The protesters, who gathered in a stadium, included ex-Mujahedeen and several top government officials. “Whoever is… Read moreAfghanistan: war criminals win amnesty vote
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Afghanistan’s rebel Hizb-i-Islami rebel movement, has released a video denouncing the US as “the mother of problems” and pledging that US and NATO forces will be driven from the country, likely this year. “As long as… Read moreAfghanistan: Hekmatyar pledges US defeat
Just as Britain has announced a draw-down of 1,600 troops in Iraq, comes the news it will be sending some 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Of the 35,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, some 5,600 are British, mainly deployed in Helmand…. Read moreUK, Australia send more troops to Afghanistan
Why isn’t this in the headlines? From the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, Feb. 12: The Taleban have taken control of their second Helmand district in less than two weeks, say district officials. The Taleban captured the police chief… Read moreAfghanistan: Taliban seizing more territory in Helmand
Afghanistan’s eastern Zabul province is in the news at the moment because a US Chinook helicopter just crashed there, killing eight soldiers and wounding 14. The Taliban, as usual, claimed it was brought down by one of their missiles, and… Read moreAfghanistan: women fight for right to grow trees
Days after bomb blasts and insurgent attacks in Iranian Baluchistan, more terror in Pakistani Baluchistan. To what extent is this a Baluch ethnic insurgency, and to what extent a Sunni fundamentalist jihad? Or is it both? One shudders to think… Read moreBaluchistan terror: Pakistan’s turn again
From AFP, Feb. 14 (links added): WASHINGTON – The Pentagon announced plans to maintain some 27,000 US troops in Afghanistan — the most since it went to war there more than five years ago — to try to crush a… Read moreMore US troops to Afghanistan
The Pentagon recently posed Colombia as a “good model” for the war on opium in Afghanistan. But Hamid Karzai, to his credit, is displaying greater concern for the health of his own land and people than top US Latin American… Read moreAfghanistan: Karzai just says no —to glyphosate
The Western Hemisphere’s worst human rights abuser by a mile (and, not coincidentally, closest US ally) is a “good model” for what Washington hopes to build in Afghanistan. The Afghans must be very comforted. From Reuters, Jan. 19 (emphasis added):… Read morePentagon: Colombia “good model” for Afghan drug war
