Afghanistan

By Madhav Joshi and David Cortright | – The Taliban continue to gain territory in their bloody insurgency to seize control of Afghanistan. Recently, Taliban leaders said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s removal is a condition for ending the conflict. If a mutually acceptable candidate were named to replace Ghani, a Taliban spokesman told The Associated […]

Afghanistan

The Great Washington Ponzi Scheme in Afghanistan comes Crashing Down

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United States lost the Afghanistan War a long time ago, as is quickly becoming apparent as the Taliban take city after city. After 2002, it was never clear what the US war aim was. You can’t win a war if you don’t have a clear objective. The war is […]

Afghanistan

Taliban seize Herat and assault nearby dam that provides water and power to hundreds of thousands of Afghans

The Conversation

By Elizabeth B. Hessami and Asef Ghafoory | – ( The Conversation) – The Taliban have taken over the Afghan city of Herat, capping three weeks of furious fighting in which both men and women took up arms to defend their city while many residents fled gunfights and rocket attacks. The fall of Herat follows […]

Afghanistan

Taliban Gains pose risk to fragile Legal Protections gained by Afghan Women: HRW

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (New York) – The Afghan government’s failure to provide accountability for violence against women and girls has undermined progress to protect women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Gains by Taliban forces as the United States completes its troop withdrawal leaves the current Afghan state, and […]

Afghanistan

Taliban ‘has not changed,’ say women facing subjugation in areas of Afghanistan under its extremist rule

The Conversation

By Homa Hoodfar and Mona Tajali | – The Taliban insurgents continue their deadly war to seize control of Afghanistan after the departure of United States and NATO forces. As they close in on major cities that were once government strongholds, like Badakhshan and Kandahar, many Afghans – and the world – fear a total […]

Afghanistan

Who Authorized America’s Wars? And Why They Never End

Tomdispatch

By Andrea Mazzarino | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – Sometimes, as I consider America’s never-ending wars of this century, I can’t help thinking of those lyrics from the Edwin Starr song, “(War, huh) Yeah! (What is it good for?) Absolutely nothing!” I mean, remind me, what good have those disastrous, failed, still largely ongoing conflicts done […]

Afghanistan

China Cautiously Eyes New Regional Leadership Role As Afghanistan Fighting Intensifies

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Reid Standish | – ( RFE/RL ) – As the security situation in Afghanistan worsens, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has begun a high-profile tour of Central Asia that analysts say is an effort by Beijing to boost its interests in the region. The weeklong visit to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan comes as the […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: two decades of Nato help leaves a failed and fractured state on the brink of civil war

The Conversation

By Natasha Lindstaedt | – ( The Conversation )- Afghanistan is falling apart. With US and Nato troops leaving the country earlier than planned, experts are warning that the Taliban could take control of the country within six months. Currently the insurgents control the strategically important province of Helmand, and control or contest territory nearly […]

Afghanistan

Killing Schoolgirls in Afghanistan: Fundamentalist Attackers Target Girls Leaving Kabul High School

Human Rights Watch

By Heather Barr | Interim Co-Director, Women’s Rights Division | – ( Human Rights Watch) – Scenes from Sayed ul-Shuhada High School in Kabul, Afghanistan, where as many as 85 people including many schoolgirls were killed in an attack this weekend, should break anyone’s heart. They certainly broke mine. In 2017 a filmmaker and I […]