Asia

The LAT reports that a night-time raid by NATO forces that left 4 dead provoked a big demonstration in Taloqan in northern Afghanistan, the repression of which killed 12 and wounded 70. Taloqan is the capital of Takhar Province, population about 200,000 and people of Uzbek ethnicity are the single largest group. The area was […]

Pakistan

Pakistani Parliament Reacts against US Incursions

Juan Cole

Pakistan’s elected parliament held a 10-hour session on Friday and decided at the end of it that US incursions, including drone strikes, into Pakistan must cease. The American drone strikes in the northwest, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas have long been unpopular in parliament and with the general public (though in some of the […]

Pakistan

Secret Pakistani Deal with US on Bin Laden

Juan Cole

It turns out that when President Obama ordered the Navy SEALs to get Usama Bin Laden in Abbotabad, he did not infringe against Pakistani sovereignty after all. Rather, he was acting in accordance with a longstanding secret agreement between Washington and Islamabad, according to The Guardian. The agreement even stipulated that the Pakistani government would […]

al-Qaeda

Junun Musician Ahmad: Bin Laden Demise a Great Good thing for Muslims

Juan Cole

In this excellent Dawn article, rock musician Salman Ahmad of Junun explains why it is a great good thing that Usama Bin Laden was taken out. Ahmad, who favors the mystical, often tolerant, Sufi form of Islam, said that few individuals in the past 1400 years had wrought as much destruction on Islam as Bin […]

Afghanistan

Taliban, al-Qaeda Flee N. Afghanistan as Morale Collapses with al-Qaeda admission of Bin Laden’s Death

Juan Cole

While Usamah Bin Laden’s passing will not destroy al-Qaeda altogether, it is a horrible blow to their morale, despite the bravado in al-Qaeda’s message acknowledging Bin Laden’s death at American hands. (By the way, for those who insisted that President Obama had to release the photos of Bin Laden’s corpse for the reality of his […]

Pakistan

Pakistani Military between Rock and Hard Place

Juan Cole

One of the reasons for which Pakistan’s military is so incensed about the unannounced US raid into Pakistan territory is that they are afraid the operation might form a precedent that could be exploited by India. Indeed, Pakistani generals thought that the SEALs were an Indian special ops team that had inserted itself at Abbottabad. […]

Afghanistan

Casio Watches an Arresting Offense in Afghanistan: Wikileaks on Guantanamo

Juan Cole

Wikileaks has released the Pentagon assessments of nearly 800 suspected al-Qaeda prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to newspapers such as the Washington Post. The documents show that some of the prisoners were likely dangerous men, while many others were probably arrested on flimsy evidence or even out of stupidity. Wearing a Casio watch could be […]

India

Japan Nuclear Woes Galvanize Indian Protests

Juan Cole

Indian peasants in Maharashtra are protesting plans to build a nuclear plant on an earthquake fault at Jaitapur. India has an ambitious set of plans to build 21 further nuclear reactors. The peasants were already worried, but the partial melt-down at the Fukushima plant in Japan, and especially the venting of radioactive water into the […]

Afghanistan

Afghan Protests against Qur’an-Burning cause Deaths

Juan Cole

Some 2000 protesters came out in Qandahar on Friday, meeting police fire that left 9 dead and 73 injured, when they protested the burning of the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, by a crazed American pastor. In the northern city of Mazar-i Sharif, thousands demonstrated, and a mob attacked a UN outpost and killed 5, […]