Afghanistan

By Amira Jadoon and Andrew Mines | – An attack on a crowd gathered outside Kabul’s airport on Aug. 26, 2021, has left at least 60 people dead, including at least a dozen U.S. Marines. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the coordinated suicide bomb and gun assault, which came just days after President Joe Biden warned […]

Afghanistan

Perfect Storm: Hunger stalks 14 mn Afghans, 2 mn Children, from Taliban, War, climate-driven Drought, and Covid

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) announced a few days ago that 14 million people in Afghanistan are at risk of acute food insecurity in a matter of weeks. That is about a third of the population. It is up from 11 million last spring, when the WFP and […]

Afghanistan

The Taliban Religious Ideology is Blow-back from 200 Years of British Rule of India

The Conversation

By Sohel Rana and Sumit Ganguly | – Following the Taliban’s rapid taking of power in what it describes as a reestablished “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” fears of a certain kind of Islamist ideology being brought back have led a large number of Afghans to flee, or fear for their lives. The Taliban were known […]

Afghanistan

The Neocons Strike Back: Blair’s Carping at Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal is Spite that He Couldn’t Recolonize the Muslim World

Middle East Monitor

By Nasim Ahmed | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The architects of the “war on terror” have hit back following the humiliating US withdrawal from Afghanistan. From the political leaders who sanctioned never-ending wars to the intellectual high priests in journalism, academia and think tanks who cooked it up, exponents of Western imperialism […]

Afghanistan

Biden tells G-7 he accepts Aug. 31 Kabul Airport Deadline as Taliban, fearing Flight of Capital and Skills, Forbid Evacuations Thereafter

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Taliban have further foreclosed U.S. options in the current effort to evacuate any remaining Americans and eligible Afghans from the country. President Biden said Tuesday that he was accepting the August 31 deadline laid down by the fundamentalist group for the US to be out of the Kabul Airport […]

Afghanistan

The plight of Afghan security contractors highlights the legal and moral risks of outsourcing war

The Conversation

By Anna Powles | – ( The Conversation ) – By first denying and then granting visas to more than 100 Afghan contractors who guarded its embassy in Kabul, Australia has shone a light on the murky world of the private security industry. According to the lawyer and former army officer representing the security guards, […]

Afghanistan

Former Leaders, Women, Plead with Taliban for Inclusive Afghanistan Government

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The privately owned Afghanistan news service Tolo reports that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid affirmed that the movement intends to form a new government quickly. On Monday, the Taliban Politburo met with former co-president Abdullah Abdullah, former president Hamid Karzai, and former prime minister Gulbadin Hikmatyar. Abdullah Abdullah described the meeting […]

Afghanistan

Where do Afghanistan’s refugees go?

The Conversation

By Tazreena Sajjad | – Images of thousands of Afghans desperately trying to flee their country following a hasty U.S. withdrawal have provoked an international outcry. As of Aug. 22, 2021, some 6,000 U.S. troops were working to evacuate U.S. military, American citizens and Afghans who are approved for Special Immigrant Visas. SIVs are a […]

Afghanistan

‘Ready To Resist,’ Residents Of Last Anti-Taliban Stronghold, Panjshir, Brace For Uncertain Future

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Farangis Najibullah | – ( RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi) – As Afghanistan’s last major bastion of anti-Taliban resistance gears up for new fighting against the hard-line Islamist group, there has been an outpouring of support for the effort from residents of the Panjshir Valley. But they are also concerned about the prospect of a prolonged […]