Foreign Policy, 5 March 2015 Excellently balanced and almost dialectical but also condensed explainer by Marvin G. Weinbaum and Meena Yousufzy why reform pace under the Ghani-Abdullah team is so slow and what stands in its way in Afghanistan’s political culture: “Traditional and tribal norms, as well as the nation’s Islamic heritage, contribute significantly to Afghanistan’s […]
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Human Rights Watch, 3 March 2015 Important report about the continuation of impunity for killings, rape, torture – but this time under the eyes of the “international community”. From the summary: More than 13 years after the overthrow of the Taliban government, Afghans continue to suffer serious human rights abuses by government and military officials […]
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Dawn (Pakistan), 15 February 2015 “Although archaeology department has taken over the ancestral graveyard and the palace of Durrani princes, who ruled Kohat from the 19th century to 20th century, these historical sites are still among the most neglected ones in the region. The Durrani rulers of Kohat, Prince Sir Sultan Jan Sadozai and his father […]
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New York Times, 12 February 2015 The article reports an upsurge in US nightraids in Afghanistan after it obtained the computer of an al-Qaeda operative, Abu Bara al-Kuwaiti, with files detailing operations. “No official would provide exact figures, because the data is classified.” The article further says: “The spike in raids is at odds with policy […]
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New York Times, 11 February 2015 Excellent review of the version how Hamed Karzai came to Afghanistan in 2011 written by the CIA station chief in Islamabad from 1999 to 2002 “with practical responsibility for Taliban-dominated areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan during the crucial early months of the war” and therefore also for Karzai’s anti-Taleban […]
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The Nation (weekly), 4 February 2015 This article looks at the company that recently lost two employees by a so-called green-on-blue killing in Kabul, Praetorian Standard Inc. (PSI), of Fayetteveille, North Carolina, “overseeing maintenance work” on a fleet of Pilatus PC-12 surveillance and intelligence aircraft, “known by the US military as U-28s” and “used extensively by US […]
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The Guardian, 29 January 2015 May Jeong’s reportage from the “Gulan refugee camp, home to Pakistanis fleeing North Waziristan, on the site of an Afghan battlefield.”
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Pajhwok Afghan News, 15 January 2015 A short insight in the link between insecurity and the loss of national resources.
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New York Times (blog), 14 January 2015 Exploring the reasons behind China’s increasing engagement with Afghanistan, including with the Afghan Taleban, the authors says that China now has established an independent (from Pakistan) channel to the Afghan Taleban. The same article also says, however, that during its recent visit to China, a small Taleban delegation “traveled […]
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BBC, 13 January 2015 In this commentary for the BBC, Ahmed Rashid states that relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan “have improved dramatically” and that the new Afghan president “is looked upon favourably by Pakistan’s generals” – “because he has avoided any anti-Pakistan rhetoric and his long stints in government never led to open hostility with Islamabad… Even more […]
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AFP, 6 January 2014 “Afghan President Ashraf Ghani marked his first 100 days in power on Tuesday, still struggling to form a government as a new political stalemate threatens to fuel the Taliban insurgency. The deadlock over senior cabinet positions has underlined the challenges of running a “unity government”, which was formed after an election mired […]
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Washington Post, 31 December 2014 Veteran Afghanistan reporter Pam Constable’s Christmas in Kabul.
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