Afghanistan

By RFE/RL’s Afghan Service The leader of a fledgling women’s militia in northern Afghanistan says dozens of volunteers have joined the fight since a handful of women recently took up arms to rebuff a Taliban attack on their community. Women in the district of Darz-Aab, in Jowzjan Province, initially fought alongside local forces to prevent […]

Afghanistan

What did we buy with the $5 Trillion that the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars have cost us?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A Boston U. political scientist estimates that as of 2016, The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have cost the American taxpayers $5 trillion. That number isn’t important when we consider the human cost– Some 7,000 US troops dead, 52,000 wounded in action; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis […]

Afghanistan

US still in Conventional War in Afghanistan via . . . Drones?

contributors

By Jack Serle | ( Bureau of Investigative Journalism) | – – US drones hit Taliban more than terrorist networks despite end of Afghan war The majority of US airstrikes in Afghanistan in 2016 have been in support of ground troops including Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, rather than targeting suspected terrorists. An investigation by […]

Afghanistan

The Taliban Threat to Northern Afghanistan

contributors

By Bruce Pannier | ( RFE/RL) The security problems in northwest Afghanistan continue despite several trips to the region by Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former general who comes from the region. Dostum has led at last four offensives against militants there since the summer of 2015, but when he leaves the militants […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: New Taliban leader between Drones, ISIL & Negotiations

contributors

By Michael Semple | (The Conversation) | – – The May 21 drone strike that killed Taliban leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor was no ordinary assassination; it was an act of armed politics against an acutely political war strategist. The Taliban has already named Mansoor’s successor, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, and is reassuring its members that the […]

Afghanistan

In an Age of Global Terror, do Failed States endanger you, too?

contributors

By Joseph Chamie and Barry Mirkin | (Inter Press Service) | – – NEW YORK, Apr 9 2016 (IPS) – Regardless of whether they are called fragile, failed, or failing states, scores of countries around the globe are plagued by overwhelming problems with few solutions in sight. Moreover, the instability and dire straits of these […]

Afghanistan

‘Not Sharia’: Female Afghan Rap Star campaigns against Child Marriage

contributors

Jon Snow | (Channel 4 News Video Report) | – – “Sonita Alizadeh was just 10-years-old the first time her parents tried to sell her as a child bride. She turned to music and began recording raps protesting against child marriage.” Channel 4 News: “Sonita Alizadeh: the Afghan protesting through rap”

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Washington’s Twenty-First-Century Opium Wars

contributors

By Alfred McCoy | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – In October 2001, the U.S. launched its invasion of Afghanistan largely through proxy Afghan fighters with the help of Special Operations forces, American air power, and CIA dollars. The results were swift and stunning. The Taliban was whipped, a new government headed by Hamid Karzai […]

Afghanistan

As ISIL goes Global, Will the ‘War on Terror’ extend for Decades?

contributors

By Paul Rogers | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The war against ISIL has seen 18 months of of airstrikes by United States-led coalition forces in both Iraq and Syria. An even more concentrated period is now under way, with signs of greater use of special forces by western militaries and pledges of ground troops […]