The LAT reports that Iraqi soldiers at a base near Mosul shot and killed two US troops on Saturday and wounded a third. The US soldiers returned fire, killing one of the Iraqis. The LAT says there are increasing fears that Sunni insurgents have infiltrated the security forces. Iranian helicopter gunships attacked villages in Iraqi […]
Pirio: Somalia Beyond Piracy: Mogadishu’s Sheikhs Gamble on Peace
Gregory Alonso Pirio writes in a guest op-ed for IC:
AfPak as Obama’s Wars
Aljazeera English reviews the first hundred days of Obama’s policies in Afghanistan. The The NYT explains that Obama is readying a major US military push to cut the neo-Taliban off from their funding sources in the poppy trade. The problem is that a) the Taliban are probably being bankrolled by Gulf millionaires to some extent, […]
Sadr City Car Bombs Kill 41; Violence in Baghdad returns to 2008 Levels
AP reports that two car bombs ripped through a commercial district in Shiite East Baghdad (Sadr City) on Wednesday evening, killing at least 41 persons and wounding 68. McClatchy challenges President Obama’s assertion that violence is way down since last year. McClatchy figures show 200 killed in Baghdad alone in April, compared to 99 in […]
Cloughley: PAKISTAN’S ARMY, THE TALIBAN, AND WASHINGTON
Brian Cloughley writes in a guest op-ed for IC: Pakistan’s army continues to face challenges, not the least of which is the growing insurrection by Taliban and Taliban-supporting tribesmen in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) abutting Afghanistan. There has of late been much international criticism of the army for allegedly failing to take action […]
Pakistani Army Takes Capital of Buner, Pushing Back Taliban Advance; Obama Considering More Aid
The Pakistani military parachuted soldiers Tuesday into Buner, in the Malakand district of the North-West Frontier Province, to take on the estimated 500 militants who had made a bid to take over Buner. From all accounts, the Pakistani government of Asaf Ali Zardari does not think what happens in Buner is actually very important. But […]
Obama’s First Hundred Days in the Greater Middle East
The hundred day benchmark for journalists sizing up a new administration is probably inappropriate on foreign affairs, which are complicated and move slowly. Still, we can assess the changes in approach and tone between the Obama administration and its predecessor this winter and spring, to try to get a sense of where things are going. […]
Al-Maliki Denounces US Raid as Violating SOFA; Larijani dissatisfied with US
AP reports that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has denounced a US raid in Kut as a violation of the security agreement between Washington and Baghdad. WaPo goes further and says that al-Maliki is actually calling for the troops involved to be prosecuted in Iraqi courts. The US said its troops were targeting a major funder […]
Pakistan Crisis and Social Statistics
Readers have written me asking what I think of the rash of almost apocalyptic pronouncements on the security situation in Pakistan issuing from the New York Times, The Telegraph, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in recent days. And Stephen Walt also is asking why there are such varying assessments of Pakistan’s security prospects. He […]