Asia

By Scott Lucas and Umer Karim | – At times, the press conference in the White House was surreal. While Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, looked on, Donald Trump said he could “kill 10m people” in Afghanistan to “win a war within a week”, but had decided not to. And the US president said he […]

Afghanistan

Afghans are Caught between US Civil Law & Taliban Sharia: How can they get Justice?

The Conversation

By Ali Wardak | – Getting justice in Afghanistan is a complicated business. Two main justice systems – state laws based on the civil law tradition and Islamic jurisprudence – combine with non-state institutions, such as traditional village jirgas (circles) or shuras (councils), to resolve local disputes and deal with offences. Tribal members in a […]

Afghanistan

Majority of US Veterans doubt Value of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria Wars: Pew

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A Pew Research Center opinion poll conducted among 1,284 veterans who had served since 2001 (which also polled 1,087 American civilians as a control), found that a majority of veterans holds that the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and the intervention against ISIl in Syria were not worth it. The results […]

China

China Backs Iran: Trump ‘Started the Fire,’ ‘unilateral bullying’ ‘a tumor’

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – China is openly blaming the Trump administration for the breakdown of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), according to the official Xinhua News Agency Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a daily press briefing, “The ‘maximum pressure’ against Iran imposed by […]

China

G20: The Real Crisis Confronting Global Leaders is Trump-China Trade War

The Conversation

By Bill Durodie | – On June 28 and 29, the G20 summit will convene for the 14th time in Osaka, Japan. This gathering of leaders from the world’s leading economies, including the EU, plus invited guests and international organisations, ought to offer an important moment for mature reflection and collective coordination regarding the future […]

Featured

Solar Growing by leaps and Bounds in India, fueling Irrigation and Jobs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Solar energy is one of the fastest-growing energy sectors in the world, and has the great advantage of producing no carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is raising the average surface temperature of the earth. India is now for the first time in history investing more in solar energy than […]

Afghanistan

Once Again Pompeo Displays Hopeless Ignorance of Sunni & Shiite, Iran and Taliban

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Washington Post reports that when US Secretary of State “Benghazi Mike” Pompeo gave his breathless news conference last Thursday to finger Iran for the oil tanker explosions in the Gulf of Oman, he indicted Iran for another act of violence at the same time. Mary Papenfus at HuffPo notes […]

China

Bolton may want War with Iran, but the Pentagon is Eyeing China

Michael T. Klare

(Tomdispatch.com) – The recent White House decision to speed the deployment of an aircraft carrier battle group and other military assets to the Persian Gulf has led many in Washington and elsewhere to assume that the U.S. is gearing up for war with Iran. As in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. […]

Afghanistan

How US “good guys” wiped out an Afghan family

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

By Jessica Purkiss and Mateen Arian This story was published in partnership with: The New York Times. ( The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) – It was 4am when Masih Ur-Rahman Mubarez’s wife Amina called, an unusually early time for their daily chat. When he picked up the phone, he could hear the panic in her […]