Washington Post, 19 December 2012 Another interesting article by WP’s Rajiv Chadrasekaran, author of ‘Little America’, about how Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, ‘a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts’ were hired by then ISAF commander Petraeus who allowed them unprecedented freedoms and influence on this thinking.
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Wall Street Journal, 8 December 2012 Zalmay Khalilzad, Afghanistan-born former US ambassador to Kabul and, in 2009, rumoured to have considered a presidential candidacy himself is currently in Kabul: ‘I am here to facilitate an agreement among key personalities and forces on a possible consensus on key issues confronting the country, and the formation of […]
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Long War Journal, 7 December 2012 The terrorism watch website comments on a recent Reuters exclusive report about a leadership change in the Pakistani Taleban: ‘Dare I say that Pakistani officials are using Reuters and other news agencies as part of a not-so-sophisticated information operation designed to split the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan’s […]
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Danger Room/Wired, 5 December 2012 ‘U.S. Special Operations Forces have a brand new home in Afghanistan’ writes the security blog Danger Room. It’s owned and operated by the security company formerly known as Blackwater, now called Academi, ‘thanks to a no-bid deal worth $22 million. […] Academi’s private 10-acre compound outside Kabul, called Camp Integrity, […]
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Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission will not only not have any UN-mandated international members, it will cease to exist. This has been decided by the Afghan cabinet. In its place, the highly controversial Special (Elections) Court will be responsible for dealing with election-related complaints. ToloNews, 4 December 2012 Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission will not only not […]
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Los Angeles Times, 1 December 2012 An under-reported minority: ‘Afghanistan is home to 460,000 internally displaced people, Afghans who have fled war, strife or famine in other parts of the country. More than 30,000 have settled in illegal camps around Kabul in search of jobs and shelter
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IWPR, 30 November 2012 According to the governor of the province, the US military has purchased land for a base in southern Logar – where it even has swallowed part of the main Kabul-Gardez road – from six people who even didn’t own it. The deal was done when late Abdullah Wardak – a Sayyaf […]
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Spiegel online, 28 November 2012 NATO has decided to rename its post-2014 mission. Initially it was supposed to be called ‘International Training, Assistance and Advisory Mission (ITAAM). They found that too close to ‘Etteham’ (or Ittiham), a Dari word for ‘accusation’. The new name will be ANTAAM (Afghan Nato Training, Advisory and Assistance Mission).
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New York Times, 26 November 2012 US and NATO planners are ‘drawing up the broad outlines of a force that would remain in Afghanistan following the handover to Afghan security after 2014’. This would include ‘a small [US] counterterrorism force with an eye toward Al Qaeda’ of ‘less than 1,000’ as well as ‘about 10,000 […]
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ToloNews, 24 November 2012 The Ulema Council of Afghanistan is seeking more authority via the establishment of a new Dar al-Ifta – a scholarly institute with the authority to issue binding decrees concerning Islamic law or ‘fatwas’. The council discussed their demand with President Hamid Karzai on Friday during a meeting requested by the president […]
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New York Times, 18 November 2012 Another view of Herat, an addition to our recent Herat blog by Fabrizio Foschini.
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Global Post, 16 November 2012 Jean MacKenzie has collected a few opinions – and facts – why Gen Petraeus was over-lionised: According to the New Yorker’s John Lee Abderson ‘lionization by admiring and opportunistic politicians and fawning journalists and biographers has been craven and boundless’.
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