Global Times and People’s Daily, 30 October 2014 The two leading official English-language newspapers of the People’s Republic carry the same commentary on President Ghani’s China visit – so this seems to be the official line: “Even when the last US soldier leaves, China will never take on the role played by the US and […]
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BBC, 22 October 2014 The series of admission of grave mistakes in Afghanistan continues: after the US SIGAR called the US anti-narcotics strategy a failure and even the German chancellor expressed doubts whether the NATO training mission should end in 2016, the commander of the British troops in Helmand in 2006 admits – in a […]
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Foreign Policy, 20 October 2014 Very interesting think piece by Barney Rubin, suggesting options how to get a political solution including the Taleban – and not just a ‘deal’ with the Taleban – going again, as part of the constitutional review (over the possible inclusion of the position of a CEO/prime minister). His main and […]
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BBC, 20 October 2014 Visit in Taleban-controlled Tangi (-ye Seyyedabad) valley in Wardak province, an area where the insurgency started when the road was paved.
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Wall Street Journal, 19 October 2014 The Journal corrects reports that the two Haqqani leaders – Anas Haqqani (a son of Jalaluddin Haqqani) and Hafiz Rashid (brother of one of the Guantanamo Five released earlier this year in exchange against US Taleban captive Bowe Bergdahl) – were not arrested in Afghanistan but “in Bahrain by […]
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al-.Jazeera, 15 October 2014 Iran’s ambivalent role in the southwestern Afghan province, between humanitarian work and cultural dominance. And it is building a wall against drugs and other smugglers, too.
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The Afghanistan Analyst (blog), 7 October 2014 Useful link list to the new president’s earlier publications, including “Closing the Sovereignty Gap – an approach to state-building”, “A Ten-Year Framework for Afghanistan” (the basis of his 2009 presidential campaign) and his 1982 dissertation.
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Boston Globe, 8 October 2014 “According to the latest Pentagon statistics, US combat aircraft dropped more bombs on Taliban and other militant targets in August than it had in any single month in two years — and nearly triple the monthly average since January. … The stepped-up campaign was viewed by some analysts as an […]
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Relief Web/Unicef, 7 October 2014 A recently released United Nations Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict highlights issues of serious concern regarding early recruitment of children by all parties to the conflict. The report states that, in 2013, at least 97 boys – some as young as 8 years old – were recruited into […]
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Pajhwok News Agency, 3 October 2014 In its maiden meeting under President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai’s chairmanship on Thursday, the Cabinet approved naming Kabul International Airport after former president Hamid Karzai. It acted upon a proposal by the Meshrano Jirga, the senate.
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Wall Street Journal, 2 October 2014 The Salang tunnel – the only short link between northern and southern Afghanistan – is crumbling. Millions have been invested, but it needs to be overhauled more seriously, as it is strained by too much traffic (the article fails that it is also the needle’s eye for US and […]
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al-Jazeera, 1 October 2014 On the (not always pleasant) Afghan debate of Afghanistan’s current first lady, Rula Ghani, with a look back at the role of other leading Afghan women over the decades.
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