The Kremlin is making overtures to the new Taliban government in Afghanistan. On October 21, at a meeting of the Valdai Club, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is close to removing the Taliban from the list of terrorists, which could be interpreted as part of the Kremlin’s hot and cold game with the Taliban. […]
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Afghanistan
What my 20 years in Afghanistan taught me about the Taliban – and how the west consistently underestimates them
By Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam | – It was April 1995, and I was preparing to travel to Afghanistan for my first volunteer post with a UK charity. I had travelled to London to meet the Afghanistan director for the non-governmental organisation (NGO) I was going to be working for and now sat in their tiny […]
Under Harsh Taliban Rule and Boycotted by International Donors, Afghanistan is becoming Hell on Earth
By Liam Felloni | – Bristol, UK (Special to Informed Comment) – Ninety days into the Taliban takeover, the situation in the country is worsening by the minute. Since Afghanistan is no longer backed by Western governments, and the Taliban government is heavily sanctioned, the country is on the verge of famine. As hunger rises […]
How the US lost in Afghanistan (Juan Cole Interview with Michigan Online Teach-out)
Interview by the University of Michigan Online‘s Jenni Patterson | – “Following the removal of American troops from Afghanistan, there has been a surge of Afghans trying to escape amid the country’s turmoil. Learn more about the current crisis in Afghanistan and how to support displaced people in your own community with the “Afghan Refugees […]
Armed With Online Option, Afghan Girls Say ‘Bring It On’ When It Comes To Taliban Education Ban
By Michael Scollon of RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi | – ( RFE/RL – Radio Azadi) – Hundreds of school-aged girls in Afghanistan are getting around the Taliban’s efforts to stymie their education by going online, giving them the opportunity to continue to learn everything from computer programming to sculpting to yoga psychotherapy. “It sends a clear […]
Was the Afghan War a Schell Game? Getting It Right Is Always the Wrong Approach When It Comes to America’s Wars
( Tomdispatch.com) – I waited almost three months for some acknowledgement, but it never came. Not a bottle of champagne. Not a congratulatory note. Not an email of acknowledgement. Not one media request. Authors wait their whole lives for I-told-you-so moments like these. But mine passed without accolades, awards, or adulation. Being way ahead of […]
“Worse than a Crime”: Pentagon Inspector finds Kabul Drone Strike Killing 10 not a Violation of Law (!)
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Paul Handley of AFP reports that the US Air Force Inspector General, Lieutenant General Sami Said, found that a drone strike that mistakenly killed 10 civilian non-combatants, including 7 children, in Afghanistan on August 29 violated no laws, including the law of war. When Napoleon had the royalist Duc d’Enghein […]
How photos of Afghan suffering shown over and over perpetuate inequality and harm
By Azeta Hatef | – Devastating photos and videos emerged from Afghanistan as the Taliban regained control of the country and U.S. troops prepared to withdraw in August 2021. A video of 19-year-old Zaki Anwari and others falling to their deaths as they clung to the side of a U.S. evacuation airplane circulated in the […]
America’s Toxic Militarism has left Afghanistan, but Afghan Women are still Living with its Consequences
By Ann Jones | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – I know, I know. It’s the last thing you want to hear about. Twenty years of American carnage in Afghanistan was plenty for you, I’m sure, and there are so many other things to worry about in an America at the edge of… well, who knows […]