South Asia

By Deepa Parent | – ( OpenDemocracy.net ) – “You are all loose women for protesting against the burqa. Why don’t you want to cover your bodies? You are not Muslims,” a Taliban fighter yelled at Zoya* when she led a march of 20 women in Kabul on Tuesday. Zoya, 38, a women’s rights activist […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Taliban Faces Rising Armed Resistance From Former Government Factions

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Abubakar Siddique | – ( RFE/ RL )- For nearly two decades, the Taliban launched an annual deadly spring offensive in a bid to regain the power it lost in 2001. As the snows melted in the Afghan mountains, Taliban fighters hastened their attacks on officials and troops of the pro-Western Afghan republic and […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Emergency: India’s Unprecedented Heat Wave blights Wheat Crops, adding to Global Bread Shortages

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A global wheat crisis has been caused by Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war there, which has drastically reduced Ukraine’s wheat production and exports, while the resultant international sanctions have also somewhat reduced Russian production. Now, there is yet another complication, as the fertile wheat-growing regions of North […]

Afghanistan

Historian Adam Michnik: Putin’s Invasion Of Ukraine Will End Like Brezhnev’s Afghan War, And Spark A ‘New Wave’

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Vadim Dubnov | – ( RFE/RL ) – Vladimir Putin “has driven Russia into a trap” by invading Ukraine, the former Polish dissident Adam Michnik has said, predicting ultimate defeat for the Russian leader and a chance for much-needed liberal reforms afterward. “In Russia, changes took place after wars were lost — after the […]

Afghanistan

Why didn’t US strikes on Afghan Weddings generate Press Outrage like Russia’s Killings of Civilians in Ukraine?

Nick Turse

( Tomdispatch.com ) – You’ve seen the grisly footage. You’ve read the harrowing reports. The evidence is everywhere and it’s as chilling as it is irrefutable. There was the young boy who was beaten and shot in cold blood; the man used for target practice; the old man thrown off a cliff; and the group […]

Afghanistan

Afghan evacuees lack a clear path for resettlement in the U.S., 7 months after Taliban takeover

The Conversation

By Tazreena Sajjad, American University School of International Service | – Russia’s war against Ukraine has resulted in more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country. The United States said on March 24, 2022, that it would welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. The Ukrainian refugee situation continues to overshadow another refugee crisis. That crisis stems […]

Bangladesh

Will the Climate Crisis Cause the Next Great Global Conflict?

Jason Miklian

Oslo (Special to Informed Comment) – In November 1970 the Great Bhola Cyclone smashed into the southern coast of what is now Bangladesh, killing 500,000 people. It wasn’t just the deadliest storm in human history — it knocked over the first domino in a political chain reaction that brought the world to the brink of […]

Afghanistan

The Taliban is holding girls’ education hostage in Afghanistan – the question is, why?

The Conversation

By Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam, University of St Andrews | – Afghan children and teenagers have not had much to look forward to since the Taliban took power in August last year. They have endured six months of uncertainty, anxiety and fear as they waited to see what Taliban rule would bring for them. Women could […]

Afghanistan

Have We Forgotten . . . the people of Afghanistan?

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – The US 20-year war and occupation in Afghanistan, waged to avenge the September 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, has taken the lives of more than 71,000 Afghani and Pakistani civilians. A massive increase in civilian deaths ensued there in 2017 when the US military loosened […]