South Asia

“In her first speech since the Taliban in Pakistan tried to kill her for advocating education for girls, Malala Yousafzai celebrated her 16th birthday on Friday at the United Nations, appealing for compulsory free schooling for all children” [including for girls!] Channel 4 News has video

Afghanistan

On-Again, Off-Again US Talks with Taliban in Doha; Kabul Furious

Juan Cole

The attempt of the US State Department to open negotiations with the Taliban, who now have an office in Doha, Qatar, foundered on a series of SNAFUs on Wednesday. First, the Taliban put up a sign at their office in Doha that implied it was the embassy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the pre-2001 […]

Afghanistan

The Government Endangered us with Foreign Quagmires; it’s the Bradley Mannings that might keep us safe (Madar)

Juan Cole

Chase Madar writes at Tomdispatch.com The prosecution of Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks’ source inside the U.S. Army, will be pulling out all the stops when it calls to the stand a member of Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that assassinated Osama bin Laden. The SEAL (in partial disguise, as his identity is secret) is expected to tell […]

Afghanistan

Obama pledged investigation of Alleged Taliban Prisoner Massacre by US-Backed Afghan Warlords; Where is it? (Currier)

Juan Cole

Cora Currier writes at ProPublica In his first year in office, President Barack Obama pledged to “collect the facts” on the death of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war at the hands of U.S.-allied Afghan forces in late 2001. Almost four years later, there’s no sign of progress. When asked by ProPublica about […]

Afghanistan

Obama: US will Continue its Targeted Killing with Drones (Woods)

Juan Cole

Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Barack Obama has made it clear that the US will continue with its controversial targeted killing programme. In a major speech the US president also announced that he has signed into force a new – and secret – rule book for lethal action that provides ‘clear […]

Afghanistan

Karzai admits taking CIA money; Galbraith: We’re not getting what we pay for

Juan Cole

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Monday confirmed an NYT report that he has been receiving cash payments in a paper bag every month from the US Central Intelligence Agency. Karzai maintained that the money actually goes to the director of national intelligence to be used for intelligence work, but the implication of the NYT article […]

Afghanistan

America’s Murder Inc. Abroad: Engelhardt on Scahill’s Latest

Juan Cole

Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch.com: Chalmers Johnson’s book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire was published in March 2000 — and just about no one noticed. Until then, blowback had been an obscure term of CIA tradecraft, which Johnson defined as “the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people.” In […]

Afghanistan

Report: Highest US Officials Responsible for Use of Torture (Plus Daily Show Video)

Juan Cole

The political reality of the United States in the world is that of blowback. Blowback is a term of art in the intelligence community for what happens when a covert operation goes bad and comes back to bite you on the ass. The US spent the 1980s encouraging Muslim radicals to engage in ‘freedom fighting’ […]

Egypt

The New Muslim World: Dictators on Trial

Juan Cole

The Muslim world has now witnessed several instances of a former dictator being exiled under threat of prosecution or actually being forced to appear in court to face charges arising from illegal actions performed while dictator. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia has fled to Jedda, in Saudi Arabia. Sayf al-Din Gaddafi is awaiting […]