New York Times, 17 November 2013 "Despite recent optimism about talks over a future American military presence here, two senior Afghan officials said on Sunday that the negotiations [about the US-Afghan BSA] were at a profound impasse", days before the BSA loya jirga is scheduled to meet. "The officials said both sides had refused to budge […]
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ToloNews, 13 November 2013 Not much has filtered out yet about the choice of delegates, composition, agenda and so forth of the upcoming jirga that will decided about the US-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement. Here a few details, like delegates will break up into "17 categories" on the gathering's first day to be briefed about details […]
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The News International (Pakistan), 8 November 2013 Although the "news" in the headline is not detailed and based on anonymous, somewhat dubious sources, the rest of the article is highly interesting because it details the inner strcutures and dealings of the Pakistani Taleban, in he light of the killing – through a drone attack – of […]
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The Rolling Stone, 6 November 2013 A must-read: Matt Aikins' latest scoop on killings of civilians by US special forces in Wardak province, in a district from which Karzai later forced US troops to withdraw. Matt has found evidence on 18 cases of such killings.
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Wall Street Journal, 31 October 2013 In this article we learn about district control in southern Afghanistan: Hutal, the district centre of Maiwand district (Kandahar province), is a "bubble" of government control, the only one in the district: "There is a health clinic and a functioning district administration. Women and children roam its streets freely, […]
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The New York Times, 27 October 2013 An excellent summary of the dilemmas facing the post-ISAF NATO mission in Afghanistan, including the differing views in oart of the military (more troops on the ground, better oversight, also financially) and the politicians (keep numbers and risks small). It also delineates how the new mission would look […]
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Sunny in Kabul (blog), 19 October 2013 El Snarky deservedly smashing some "Afghan" writing. Some at AAN think it is one of the best satires ever since Jonathan Swift's 1729 A Modest Proposal (For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being A burden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public) (https://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html). Read yourself, […]
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BBC, 21 October 2013 Lyse Doucet's story about Kabul's Mirman (Mrs) Baheer literary society, continuing a tradition of women's poetry from Malalai and Rabia Balkhi: "We take pure and sacred words and express our feelings with those words. But I know my society has this belief that writing poetry is a sin."
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BBC, 20 October 2013 Balkh province in northern Afghanistan is home to some of the most significant historical sites in the world – its ancient city was even known as the mother of all cities. More than a decade after her first visit, Lynne O'Donnell returns with a group of archaeologists, trying to uncover more […]
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Wall Street Journal, 15 October 2013 Margherita Stancati and Rachel Pannett cover the story of displacement in Afghanistan and escape from the country from two geographical angles: covering the story of people forced to flee from Wardak, one of the insurgency's hot spots, to Kabul and from the in the direction of Australia, but with […]
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11 October 2013 In Badghis province, Halima escaped with her boyfriend on the eve of her forced wedding, only to be tracked down days later and shot dead in a public execution. The case led to a 17-year prison sentence against a local mullah seen in a video ordering Halima's execution. But now the mullah, 35-year-old […]
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ToloNews, 6 October 2013 Afghan Comedian Bahadorak – The Little Hero – has submitted his documents for registration as a presidential candidate, together with three vice-presidential candidates. Maybe, this is the reason he has not been included in ToloNews' list of candidates. Let's see how the IEC reacts.
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