Afghanistan

( Tomdispatch.com) – When the conflict that the Vietnamese refer to as the American War ended in April 1975, I was a U.S. Army captain attending a course at Fort Knox, Kentucky. In those days, the student body at any of our Army’s myriad schools typically included officers from the Army of the Republic of […]

Afghanistan

Trump-Taliban Talks like those with N. Korea– a Photo Op on the Deck of the Titanic

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Afghanistan government has been miffed and apprehensive for some time that the Trump administration has been talking to the Taliban in Qatar without any representation from Kabul. Government officials were therefore happy about Trump’s abrupt cancellation of what he depicted as a summit with the Taliban at Camp David […]

Afghanistan

Will Trump Bring Peace to Afghanistan? Don’t Hold your Breath

Reese Erlich

( 48hills.org) – Washington, DC is buzzing with talk of troop withdrawals and the impact on peace talks in Afghanistan. The US may start withdrawing troops within months, the start of what would be a gradual withdrawal of all 14,000 US troops from the country. President Donald Trump wants to leave the impression that he […]

Afghanistan

That time Trump Spoke of Nuking Afghanistan, Killing 10 Million

contributors

By Janelle Carlson (Informed Comment) – Lost in the constant stream of shock and awe that characterizes Donald Trump’s Presidency, he states that he could end America’s 19 year war in Afghanistan in ten days. The catch, as it were, is that he would have to kill 10 million Afghans to do so. That killing […]

Afghanistan

Trump may Want out of Afghanistan, but He’s setting Stage for Global Conflict

John Feffer

Even if Trump manages to end the war in Afghanistan, he’s fueling other wars that will be even more devastating.

Afghanistan

This is how America’s Afghanistan War ends– Not with a Bang but with a Mess

Danny Sjursen

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Could Donald Trump end the Afghan war someday? I don’t know if such a possibility has been on your mind, but it’s certainly been on the mind of this retired U.S. Army major who fought in that land so long ago. And here’s the context in which I’ve been thinking about […]

Afghanistan

Why Afghanistan peace is key to rebuilding relations between the US and Pakistan

The Conversation

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 […]