Globe and Mail, 1 July 2011 Ahmed Rashid tells us how it all started: ‘The process began when German officials, at the request of the Taliban, held their first meeting in September, 2009, in Dubai. […] The Germans made sure the interlocutors represented the Taliban Shura (its governing council), which is headed by Mullah Mohammed […]
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AP, 29 June 2012 In order to get stalled talks with the Taleban going again, ‘the Obama administration is considering a new gambit to restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan that would send several Taliban detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay’ to prisons in Afghanistan.
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Washington Post, 28 June 2012 US State Department continues to spend money on the Baghdad Embassy, that currently still houses 1,350 government employees.
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Wall Street Journal, 24 June 2012 The Pentagon signed a contract with Dubai-based company Anham FZCO for food-supplies to their military bases. The contract value is estimated at $8.1 billion but could reach up to $24 billion over 5.5 years. A separate interim contract was awarded to current, controversial supplier Supreme at an estimated worth […]
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The Australian, 23 June 2012 Another boat with mainly Afghan asylum seekers has capsised off Australia’s northern coast. There are 109 survivors and 90 others still missing. ‘The boat is believed to have originated in Sri Lanka and to have been carrying as many as 200’.
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IWPR, 22 June 2012 An opinion poll conducted by the Civil Society and Human Rights Network, a coalition of rights groups, and the Future for Afghanistan Children Organisation, at Balkh University in Mazar-e Sharif has sparked controversy by revealing criticism of lecturers for ‘irresponsible’ and ‘discriminatory’ behaviour and corruption. Provincial governor Atta called for those […]
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AP, 21 June 2012 ‘When the Taliban blew the face off a towering, 1,500-year-old rock carving of Buddha in northwest Pakistan almost five years ago, it fell to an intrepid Italian archaeologist to come to the rescue. Thanks to the efforts of Luca Olivieri and his partners, the 6-meter (nearly 20-foot)-tall image near the town […]
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The Guardian, 21 June 2012 Article describes very familiar interrogation methods, but here they were used by the UK in their fight against the IRA in the 1970s. After 4 decades an appeals court has now thrown out a confession obtained through ‘water boarding’ and unlawful detention; luckily for the accused his death sentence was […]
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RFE/RL, 21 June 2012 Another well-researched article by Frud Bezhan (with Zarif Nazar), on Ghazni that has been selected as one of the three ‘Islamic capitals of culture’ of the world for 2013. But, as the Afghans journalists write, ‘with less than a year before the cultural festivals begin, however, these hopes have given way […]
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IWPR, 18 June 2012 43 Afghan MPs have been absent both in March and April without notifying the house, and some have been absent for as much as a year, the head of house’s secretariat reports. And five MPs maintain armed retinues of between 20 and 40, all paid for by the interior ministry, and […]
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China Daily, 16 June 2012 An analysis of China’s Afghanistan policy by Yang Shu, director of Institute of Central Asian Studies, Lanzhou University.
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Asia Times online, 13 June 2012 An analysis of China’s problems with an oilfield concession in Sarepul province and what it has to do with the role of the famous Watan company owned by the Popal brothers.
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