Asia

The Afghan Pajhwok News Agency reports a seeming discrepancy between statements of NATO and US officials with regard to when the Afghanistan mission will wind up. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen foresaw the beginning of a withdrawal in 2011 and a certain end to those troops’ combat missions by the end if 2014. In contrast […]

Afghanistan

Southern Afghans Have Never Heard of 9/11

Juan Cole

An opinion survey carried out in Helmand and Kandahar provinces showed that 92% of the Afghan respondents (1000 men) had never heard of 9/11. Most Americans are ambivalent about the Afghanistan War precisely because it is hard to dismiss the argument that the September 11 attacks were planned out there in some of 40 terrorist […]

Afghanistan

Juppe: Afghanistan a ‘Trap’; NATO stuck There Past 2014

Juan Cole

At the NATO summit in Lisbon, it is expected to be announced that although 2014 is the target date by which NATO and US troops would withdraw, in fact a NATO contingent will be in the country thereafter in some capacity. Although this prospect is said to mollify Afghan elites around Karzai who fear being […]

Afghanistan

Afvietnam

Juan Cole

Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2010: “As NATO leaders meet in Lisbon this weekend, the U.S. is expected to endorse a plan for slow withdrawal and gradually handing over security responsibility by 2014.“: “At a summit in Lisbon this weekend, Obama and other NATO leaders will endorse a plan to gradually turn combat responsibility over […]

Afghanistan

Cole in Truthdig: Kandahar the Invisible Campaign

Juan Cole

My column in Truthdig is out, on the invisible Kandahar campaign in the invisible Afghanistan War– and the Karzai/ Petraeus soap opera. Read the whole thing.

India

Ron Paul: We’ve Already Declared War on Iran

Juan Cole

From last summer after the passage of the Comprehensive Iran sanctions or CISADA: Rep. Ron Paul argues that this measure is more or less a declaration of war on Iran, and that therefore we are effectively on a war footing with Tehran already. He also suggests that we do not need more than 700 bases […]

Pakistan

Some Attackers Escaped After Karachi Blast: Dawn

Juan Cole

Dawn is breaking the news that some of the attackers behind the massive explosion on Thursday night at a Sindh Crime Investigation Department building in Karachi, which killed 18 and wounded 100, may have been able to escape. The southern Pakistani port city of Karachi (pop. 14 million) is a cauldron of ethnic and religious […]

India

Cole in Tomdispatch: Asia Rising, American Hessians

Juan Cole

My column is out in Tomdispatch on the troubling ways that President Obama’s Asian trip suggest America’s weakening position in the world, especially with regard to a rising Asia– given our debilitating wars and our hollowed out economy. Read the whole thing.

Afghanistan

Afghan Poll: We don’t Like Taliban but will Gladly Talk with Them

Juan Cole

A summer, 2010, poll done in Afghanistan by the San Francisco-based Asian Foundation, the results of which have just been released, shows: More and more Afghans, now the vast majority, say they have no sympathy with the insurgent groups fighting NATO and the Karzai government; Most people support programs to lure Taliban and other fighters […]