Pakistan Taliban

Chris Woods, Jack Serle and Alice K Ross write at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Yemen was hit by the highest number of airstrikes in one month since June 2012, though none have been formally confirmed as US operations. No US operations were reported in Somalia. The United Nations also launched a major investigation into […]

Drones

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about US Drone Strikes *but Were Afraid to Ask (Currier)

Juan Cole

Cora Currier writes at ProPublica: You might have heard about the “kill list.” You’ve certainly heard about drones. But the details of the U.S. campaign against militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia — a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s national security approach – remain shrouded in secrecy. Here’s our guide to what we know— and […]

Afghanistan

Bombings in Pakistan Kill over 100, as Shiites are Targeted

Juan Cole

Pakistan on Thursday descended into the kind of violence that tends to occur in Iraq, with a distinct Sunni-Shiite cast to it. But the larger context was a spillover of enmities from Afghanistan. Three bombs were set off in Quetta. The first targeted a pool hall in a Hazara Shiite neighborhood. When people came to […]

Afghanistan

How America is Filling up itself and the World With Guns

Juan Cole

The American obsession with guns and violence is not unique, but it is distinctive. The US ranks 12th in the world for rate of firearm-related deaths. El Salvador, Colombia, Swaziland, Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines and some others are worse. But that is the company the US is in– not, say, relatively peaceful places like […]

Pakistan

On Malala Day, Pakistani Girls chant “I am Malala”

Juan Cole

Pakistan, and people around the world, commemorated yesterday as “Malala Day”, in honor of Malala Yusufzai, who was shot in the head by a Taliban militant for demanding the right of girls’ education. UN special envoy Gordon Brown submitted a petition to Pakistani President Asaf Ali Zardari with nearly a million signatures from around the […]

Pakistan

Imran Khan Protest Convoy Against US Drones Heads toward Waziristan, Pakistan

Juan Cole

Charismatic Pakistani opposition politician, Imran Khan, set out Saturday from Islamabad in a motorized convoy for a mobile protest by his Justice Party against continued US drone strikes on the tribal belt in northern Pakistan. His convoy, made up of all sorts of vehicles, was also joined by activists from Lahore and other cities. A […]

Pakistan

CIA Drone Killing of Non-Combatants Detailed in British Court (Woods)

Juan Cole

Chris Woods writes at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: A major case in the British High Court has revealed fresh evidence of civilian deaths during a notorious CIA drone strike in Pakistan last year. Sworn witness testimonies reveal in graphic detail how the village of Datta Khel burned for hours after the attack. Many of […]