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Broadwell Defended Petraeus’ Village Destruction Policy
via IPS News Paula Broadwell, whose affair with Gen. David Petraeus brought his career to a sudden end last week, had sought to help defend his decision in 2010 to allow village destruction in...
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Despite 2009 “Surge” Taliban Remains Force to be Reckoned with in Afghanistan
via Lobe Log Foreign Policy’s Stephen Walt highlights a chart by Belfer Center fellow Matt Waldman showing that as the US-led 2009 “Surge” in Afghanistan proceeded, US casualties increased. The pace in...
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“Anger of God Left us Without any Support”
By Kreshma Fakhri/Killid Khaleda, 22, has no recollection of her father. She was only four when he was decapitated by a rocket in a war that reduced Kabul to rubble, and forced tens of thousands of...
View ArticleLeaving Afghanistan
via Lobe Log Editor’s note: Mr. Naas is a retired Foreign Service Officer who served 4 years in Afghanistan during better times. President Obama has announced that the United States will withdraw its...
View ArticleGoodbye, Hillary — Hello, John; the Middle East Awaits You
via Lobe Log by Charles Naas On the Washington Post’s front page February 2 there is a photo of Mrs. Clinton departing the State Department surrounded by admiring staff members with a big smile on her...
View ArticleDrone Wars: Tactics in search of a strategy
via Lobe Log by James A. Russell The confirmation hearings of John Brennan for director of the Central Intelligence Agency serve as the latest searing reminder of the intellectual rigamortis gripping...
View ArticleTestimonies of War: “Candles are lit once again in our house”
By Noor Wali Saeed Shinwarai Noor Wali Sayeed Shinwarai writes for Killid, an independent Afghan media group in partnership with IPS. By distributing the testimonies of survivors of war through print...
View ArticleAfghanistan: How to Wind Down
via Lobe Log by Henry Precht Two US service members were killed and at least eight others injured Monday in an insider attack at a Special Forces site in Afghanistan. The Taliban asserted...
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Memories of War: 10 Graves, One Escape
By Sohaila Weda Khamoosh Kabul’s seventh district is also called Sarzamine Sokhta in Dari (Burned Land). Nearly everyone here has lost a family member in the successive rounds of blood-letting...
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Memories of War: Afghanistan — Where Landmines are Part of Daily Life
By Kreshma Fakhri Years of war have turned Afghanistan into one of the most mined countries in the world. Landmines have killed and maimed tens of thousands. In this testimony, 28-year-old Mahro...
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Memories of a Zookeeper
By Noor Wali Saeed Shinwarai Shah Barat was a zookeeper at the Kabul Zoo when Taliban fighters marched into the city. As tens of thousands fled he stayed on to look after the animals in the zoo. In...
View ArticleAl Qaeda and Iran: Enemies with Benefits
by Matthew Duss via USIP On April 22, Canadian authorities arrested two men who allegedly planned to derail a U.S.-bound passenger train. Officials said al Qaeda elements in Iran gave “direction and...
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Little Relief for Afghanistan’s Mentally Ill
By Sohaila Weda Khamoosh Rohafza spends her days sitting behind a padlocked grill door, immovable and staring at Maidani, the place her son is buried. The woman’s face is pale, and her hair is graying....
View ArticleMutual Interests Could Aid U.S.-Iran Détente
by Jasmin Ramsey via IPS News In the wake of a renewed diplomatic push on the Iranian nuclear front, shared interests in Iran’s backyard could pave the way for Washington and Tehran to work toward...
View ArticleIran-Pakistan Ties Challenged by Regional Violence
via LobeLog by Fatemeh Aman Escalating violence against the Islamic Republic of Iran from the volatile region of Baluchistan shows that Tehran’s approach toward regional insurgency may require...
View ArticleDealing with Defeat in Afghanistan
via LobeLog by Charles Naas President Barack Obama and the United Nations have again warned President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan that, unless he signs a bilateral security agreement, which gives all...
View ArticleTaliban Commander: ‘At least 70 Percent Of The Taliban Are Angry At Al Qaeda’
In a rare extended interview with the U.K.’s New Statesman, according to multipleoutlets, an anonymous Taliban commander says the group was “naïve and ignorant of politics and welcomed Al Qaeda into...
View ArticleWhat Was the War About?
via LobeLog by James A. Russell The sight of Afghans lining up in droves on April 5 to cast their ballots braving threats of violence offers us some heartening images in a world that seems awash in bad...
View ArticleBowe Bergdahl Isn’t the First
via LobeLog by Thomas W. Lippman Americans have short memories. In all the furor over the exchange of five senior Taliban leaders for an U.S. prisoner in Afghanistan, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, I haven’t...
View ArticleWSJ’s Daniel Henninger’s Reagan
by Jim Lobe As readers of this blog know, I’m not a big fan of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which pretty much defines neo-conservative foreign-policy orthodoxy and is probably the...
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