Afghanistan

(By Juan Cole) The Ft. Hood shooter who left 3 victims dead yesterday had been being assessed for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He had served for 4 months at the tail end of the Iraq War in 2011 and suffered from anxiety and depression. A staggering 1 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have […]

Afghanistan

No US troops Killed in Combat last Month for first time since 2003

Juan Cole

NewsyWorld: “No U.S. Troops Died In Afghanistan In March” For the first time since 2007, no US troops were killed in Afghanistan in March, and for the first time since early 2003 no US troops were killed in combat anywhere in the world for a whole month. In late February, Michael Munk had reported, “… […]

Afghanistan

After Karzai: Do Afghanistan’s Presidential Elections Matter?

contributors

(By Julie Poucher Harbin for IslamiCommentary) March 19 Ashraf Ghani campaign rally in the Awden desert in northern Kunduz province, Afghanistan.Photo: Twitter feed of Habib Khan Totakhil (@HabibKhanT) Afghanistan Goes to the Polls First, the election timeline. While Karzai is due to step down – he’s limited by the constitution from seeking another term — […]

Afghanistan

US Drone Kills 5 Allied Afghan Troops, mistaking them for Taliban

Juan Cole

A NATO air strike in eastern Afghanistan accidentally killed five Afghan soldiers on Thursday, officials said, the latest incident likely to worsen already fraught relations between Kabul and the US-led coalition. NATO offered its condolences over the…

Afghanistan

Obama Plans for complete US Withdrawal from Afghanistan in December

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) America’s longest war may be over by the end of this year, and it is making Afghans and neighbors like Pakistan nervous. On Tuesday President Obama called Afghan president Hamid Karzai for the first time since last summer, saying that since Karzai had declined to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement, he had […]

Afghanistan

America still has a Torture Problem: 4 Reasons Why

contributors

(By Rebecca Gordon) Shortly after his first inauguration in 2009, President Obama issued an executive order forbidding torture and closing the CIA’s so-called “black sites.” But the order didn’t end “extraordinary rendition” – the practice of sending prisoners to other countries to be tortured. (This is actually illegal under the U.N. Convention against Torture, which […]

Afghanistan

Taliban jump Shark, Kidnap alleged Spy Dog (Colbert Report)

Juan Cole

The Colbert Report on the Taliban Dognappers

Afghanistan

UN: Civilian drone deaths triple in Afghanistan

contributors

(By Alice K. Ross) Civilian drone deaths in Afghanistan tripled last year, according to a report by a UN agency. Forty-five civilians died in drone strikes in 2013. The report, by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama), found that drone strikes accounted for at least a third of all civilian deaths in air […]

Afghanistan

US Economic Policy in Afghanistan Doomed it: From Dogmatic Privatization to Neglect of Rural Sector

contributors

(By Graciana del Castillo via The Boston Review) . . . The promises made by President Bush in April 2002 to help rebuild Afghanistan in the tradition of the Marshall Plan created high expectations among the Afghan population after the rout of the Taliban and the Bonn Agreement of December 2001. But despite costly international […]