Juan Cole

Instability in Afghanistan The ability of terrorist forces (whether al-Qaida or Gulbuddin Hekmatyar) to set off a huge car bomb explosion in Kabul, killing at least 30 and injuring 50, on the same day that President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped being assassinated in Kandahar, demonstrates how much remains to be done there. U.S. preoccupation with […]

Iraqi Shi`ites and Hizbullah There seems to me to be a contradiction between the stated plans of the hawks in the Bush administration to establish a post-Saddam democracy in Iraq on the one hand, and other goals of the administration on the other. For instance, President Bush put Iran in the “axis of evil” and […]

More on Sawa and Gutting the Voice of America I’ve been listening to Radio Sawa, and the situation is even worse than I thought. It is available at: http://www.ibb.gov/radiosawa/index.html First of all, they play the Backstreet Boys. Even worse, the news breaks, at least on the Web service, appear to be much shorter and less […]

al-Qaeda in Holland Dutch prosecutors in Rotterdam said on Monday that they had arrested 8 persons who belong to a radical Islamic group that provided “logistical, material and financial support” to al-Qaeda, and recruited fighters for it. This cell is apparently unrelated to a previously apprehended group of 4 men. The previously arrested cell included […]

Gutting VOA and Radio Sawa Some news reports from the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers this week have talked about the amazing success of Radio Sawa, the US government radio network that broadcasts on FM and AM in the Middle East. It plays music all day, mixing Britney Spears with local Arab pop stars, […]

Explosions near Kabul Airport There were three explosions near Kabul airport on Saturday, according to the Turkish commander of the peace keeping forces in Afghanistan. It is a bit startling that even at a key such installation in the capital, security has not been achieved by the 7000 American and the thousands of peace-keeping forces […]

Combatting extremism in Yemen Asharq al-Awsat reports that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salih has formed a council of senior Muslim clergymen to preach to Yemen’s youth, especially returnees from Afghanistan, about the dangers of religious extremism. They will conduct open discussion and dialogue sessions, both voluntary and with extremists in prison. Non-government sources estimate that […]

al-Qaida Funding Two contradictory reports are out. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal says that his government has blocked $90 mn. from going to al-Qaida in the past few months. (That it was blocked is the good news. That Saudis still want to send that kind of money to al-Qaida is the bad news). The […]

al-Qaida in Iran Iran has denied a Washington Post report that two senior al-Qaida figures are hiding out in far eastern Iran near the Afghan border, saying it has a policy of not giving asylum to al-Qaida members. One thing no one has pointed out is that the southeast of Iran is very rugged and […]