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Uncategorized
AfPak Dilemmas

AfPak Dilemmas

Juan Cole 12/12/2009

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Not only have Blackwater mercenaries (now Xe) helped the CIA kidnap people (“rendition”), but it is now coming out that they’ve been helping launch covert assassination drones in Pakistan. The revelations, which have outraged the Pakistani people, have forced the USG to cancel the contract.

Aljazeera
English
reports on the fear gripping mosque-goers in the aftermath of a Taliban bombing of a congregation. One of the capital’s major mosques was half empty on Friday. Pakistan has important left and secular traditions and you wonder whether the Taliban are reinvigorating them by tying religion to mindless violence and Draconian repression.

Amy Goodman on the militarization of aid in Afghanistan

Aljazeera English also reports on the controversies around what critics call the militarization of aid in Afghanistan (you must be signed in to your youtube account to view it).

Tomdispatch.com adds to this analysis with a consideration of Obama’s nine surges in Afghanistan.

End/ (Not Continued)

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About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


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