Professor Juan Cole explains the rise of the Taliban and the rapid fall of the American supported Afghanistan government in this conversation with Professor Adnan Husain. Professor Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan as well as the editor of Informed Comment (juancole.com). Professor Adnan Husain is […]
Top 6 Ways Trump forced Abrupt US Departure from Afghanistan; and that Time Trump said Taliban would take over War on Terror
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. in December, 2018, Trump ordered that half of the then 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan be brought out. The decision so angered then Secretary of Defense James Mattis that he abruptly resigned his position. Then Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Joseph Dunford said he had not recommended […]
Biden: After Trump-Taliban Treaty, Draw-down, Staying in Afghanistan would have Required a New War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden on Friday gave some further insight into his decision to leave Afghanistan, and refuted some of his critics’ talking points concisely and convincingly. Let me back up and explain that the Military-Industrial Complex spokespersons, like Gen. (ret’d) David Petraeus, criticized Biden for being unwilling to stay in […]
Taliban Consider Iran-Style Supreme Leader as they Kill Three Protesters demanding Restoration of National Flag
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Taliban announced Thursday that they are considering a “leadership council” government for the country. But it sounds to me like a Sunni knock-off of the Khomeinist model in Shiite Iran. This in the wake of violent suppression of flag protests on Thursday that bode ill for any sort of […]
Public Opinion largely Supportive of Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, despite Angst over Chaotic Process
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The abrupt collapse of the government of President Ashraf Ghani and his supposed 300,000 security forces in the past two weeks clearly caught the Biden administration by surprise. It is the most serious crisis yet for the new administration, and has shaken public confidence in the president, giving him the […]
Taliban “Islam” versus the Islam of the Prophet Muhammad and the Qur’an
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – British academic Abdul-Azim Ahmed of Cardiff University, an expert on mosques in the UK, complained on Twitter that he was invited onto television to debate whether the Taliban represent Islam: Just had a call from a journo asking if I could go on live to debate whether the Taliban represent […]
The Biden Doctrine and Afghanistan: Lean Counter-Terrorism and the end of Bloated Nation-Building
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden came out swinging on Monday in defense of his decision to get out of Afghanistan. The rapidity of the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul before the Taliban advance in the past week raised questions about the wisdom of the move among critics of the […]
Top 6 International Winners and Losers from Taliban Reassertion in Afghanistan
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the establishment of a Taliban government in the entirety of Afghanistan has dire implications for Afghans, especially women, urban people, Hazara Shiites, and generally non-fundamentalists. It also has implications outside the country. Here is a quick scorecard of the drawbacks and benefits […]
Deja Vu all over Again: The last Time Mazar-i Sharif Fell to the Taliban, there were Massacres
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In May, 1997, the Taliban swept into Mazar-i Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh Province. Horrible events ensued, which I’ll tell you about. Right now, it is important to say that Al Jazeera reports that Mazar fell to the Taliban again on August 14, 2021, as the Afghanistan National […]
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