South Asia

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – India installed 24.5 new gigawatts of solar power in 2024, along with 3.4 gigawatts of new wind. That represented a doubling of solar installations over 2023. This surge in renewables installations is unprecedented in the country’s history. In all, India has roughly 100 gigawatts of installed solar capacity. The United […]

Featured

Consumer Solar Surge: Pakistan Shows you Don’t Need Government Programs to Green the Grid

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – While no one was looking, the Pakistani public took matters into their own hands, adding 17 gigawatts of solar power this year. These installations are mostly in the form of Chinese panels for rooftop or ground level solar in towns and villages. Pakistan has abruptly become the world’s sixth-largest consumer […]

Afghanistan

How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Amin Saikal, “How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan” (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– More than three years have passed since US troops left Afghanistan in August 2021, putting an end to an occupation that lasted two […]

Afghanistan

How the Taliban are seeking to Reshape Afghanistan’s Schools to push their Ideology

The Conversation

By Enayat Nasir, University at Albany, State University of New York | – (The Conversation) – The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 was a blow for education across the country – but especially for girls and women. Since then, the Taliban’s leaders have outlawed education for girls after sixth grade, expanded religious seminaries known […]

Afghanistan

Afghan Women have been robbed of Health Care, Education and now their Voices. But they won’t remain Silent

The Conversation

By Susan Hutchinson, Australian National University | – (The Conversation) – Last month, the Taliban passed a new “vice and virtue” law, making it illegal for women to speak in public. Under the law, women can also be punished if they are heard singing or reading aloud from within their homes. It was approved by […]

Afghanistan

The Morass of U.S. Middle East Policy was visible in the Harris-Trump Debate

Juan Cole

ABC provided a transcript of the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. I have some thoughts on the Middle East dimension: On Gaza, Harris said, “Well, let’s understand how we got here. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Slides Into ‘Ever More Hellish Conditions’ After New ‘Morality’ Law Enacted

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Abubakar Siddique and RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi ( RFE/RL ) – The Taliban has attempted to police the public appearances and behavior of millions of Afghans, especially women, since seizing power in 2021. But the enforcement of the extremist group’s rules governing morality, including its strict Islamic dress code and gender segregation in society, was sporadic […]

Featured

India outstrips Japan in Solar Energy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The energy consultancy Ember reports that the growth in solar production in India was 5.9% in 2023, which outstripped the growth in solar in Japan last year. Japan is the fourth-largest economy in the world, and India is the fifth. India was the world’s fastest-growing economy last year at 7.8%, […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: The Taliban’s ‘Vice and Virtue’ Laws Reimpose the Harsh Repression of Women

The Conversation

By Kambaiz Rafi, Durham University | – (The Conversation) – Until the collapse of Afghanistan’s US-backed government in August 2021, few knew clearly what the Taliban wanted once they had returned to power. Some western officials and observers hoped for a big change from the regime, which had governed the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate in the […]