Afghanistan

Euronews asks Jeremy Scahill about his new film, “Dirty Wars,” which has been nominated for an Academy Award. Scahill was also recently interviewed at Democracy Now! “AMY GOODMAN: Jeremy, this report that just came out from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism that more people have been killed in drone strikes in the six months after […]

Afghanistan

US seeks Broad Powers, Immunity for post-2014 Troops in Afghanistan (Lazare)

Juan Cole

Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Wednesday that a text had been agreed on between the US and the government of President Hamid Karzai concerning a post-2014 role for US troops in the country. It still has to be approved by a Loya Jirga, a gathering of 2000 notables and clan leaders. The details […]

Afghanistan

How American Troops in Afghanistan became Unreal (Jones)

Juan Cole

Ann Jones writes at Tomdispath.com The last time I saw American soldiers in Afghanistan, they were silent. Knocked out by gunfire and explosions that left them grievously injured, as well as drugs administered by medics in the field, they were carried from medevac helicopters into a base hospital to be plugged into machines that would […]

Afghanistan

The American Quagmire in Afghanistan by the Numbers (21,565 US Troops Dead or Wounded)

Juan Cole

Number of US military personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001: 2,150 Number of US service members wounded in Afghanistan badly enough to go to hospital since 2001: 19,415 Current annual cost of keeping a US soldier in Afghanistan: $2.1 million Number of US troops now in Afghanistan: roughly 51,000 Annual average unemployment rate for Iraq […]

Afghanistan

The Horrors of Peace for the US Elite: Bashing ‘Isolationism,’ Blaming it for War (Bacevich)

Juan Cole

Andrew J. Bacevich writes at Tomdispatch.com: The abiding defect of U.S. foreign policy? It’s isolationism, my friend. Purporting to steer clear of war, isolationism fosters it. Isolationism impedes the spread of democracy. It inhibits trade and therefore prosperity. It allows evildoers to get away with murder. Isolationists prevent the United States from accomplishing its providentially […]

Afghanistan

America may Shutter the Gov’t, but not the Gov’t’s Wars (Astore)

Juan Cole

William J. Astore writes at Tomdispatch: There is a new normal in America: our government may shut down, but our wars continue. Congress may not be able to pass a budget, but the U.S. military can still launch commando raids in Libya and Somalia, the Afghan War can still be prosecuted, Italy can be garrisoned […]

Afghanistan

Sakharov Prize-winner Malala Yousafazai Calls on US Gov’t to Conduct talks with Taliban (Queally)

Juan Cole

Malala Yousafzai has won the Sakharov Prize for free speech and human rights. Jon Queally writes at Commondreams.org: ” Malala Yousafzai, the sixteen-year-old girl shot in the head by Taliban members in her native Pakistan for speaking out for women's right to education, is calling out the U.S. government and her own for refusing to […]

Afghanistan

Militant Secularism in the Middle East?

Juan Cole

The youth organizations that made the 2011 revolutions were predominantly leftist or liberal. They revolted against seedy police states run by family cartels and their cronies. They had allies among labor unions and office workers. These movements demanded free, fair parliamentary elections as the next step. But the groups best organized to campaign, canvass and […]

Afghanistan

Top Ten Things Ted Cruz did to the NSA and other Security Agencies that Edward Snowden Couldn’t

Juan Cole

Edward Snowden’s revelations about the excesses of the National Security Agency have so far had no effect whatsoever on actual practices. But Ted Cruz’s conspiracy to shut down the American government as a bargaining ploy in his quest to stop the working poor from being able to see a doctor has been much more effective […]