Taliban

Leaving Afghanistan was a No-Brainer – the Rise of Illiberal Schmittian Regimes is now the big Danger to U.S.

By Scott Corey | – (Special to Informed Comment) – On October of 2009, I published an essay on Informed Comment advocating that the US recommit to Afghanistan, with a planned date for withdrawal designed to pressure the Afghan government to better performance. The Obama administration later adopted a policy along similar lines. Although Mr. […]

Afghanistan

Afghan women have a long history of taking leadership and fighting for their rights

The Conversation

By Wazhmah Osman and Helena Zeweri | – Ever since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, the question in much of the Western media has been, “What will happen to the women of Afghanistan?” Indeed, this is an important concern that merits international attention. The Taliban has already imposed many restrictions on women. At the same time, […]

Afghanistan

Collective Punishment as War Crime: 90% of Afghan Families Lack enough Food because the West is Punishing the Taliban

Foreign Policy in Focus

By John Sifton | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation is spiraling into catastrophe. Millions of Afghans are now facing severe economic stress and food insecurity in the wake of the Taliban’s August takeover, set off by widespread lost income, cash shortages, and rising food costs. Officials with the UN […]

Afghanistan

The Taliban Emirate of ‘No’

Michael Jansen

( Jordan Times ) – The unclaimed murder last weekend of a journalist and two of his relatives while travelling in a car along a road in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province remains a crime to be investigated by the Taliban along with another ten shooting and bombing attacks on Afghan civilians. But, since the Taliban […]

Afghanistan

Bearing witness in Afghanistan — a conversation with Kathy Kelly on ending war and listening to its victims

Waging Nonviolence

( Waging Noviolence ) – This week, Michael Nagler and Stephanie Van Hook talk to Kathy Kelly, life-long nonviolence activist, co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and co-coordinator of the Ban Killer Drones Campaign. She discusses her extensive experience in and thoughts about Afghanistan. American intervention, she believes, was — and indeed, continues to be […]

Afghanistan

“A Horrible Mistake”: Recovering from America’s Imperial Delusions

Andrew J. Bacevich

( Tomdispatch.com) – The bad news stemming from the ill-planned and ill-managed U.S. evacuation of the Afghan capital just kept coming in. The Washington Post put it this way in blowing the whistle on the culminating disaster: “U.S. military admits ‘horrible mistake’ in Kabul drone strike that killed 10 Afghans.” Following the August 26th terrorist […]

Afghanistan

For Afghan Women, the Frightening Return of ‘Vice and Virtue’

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Heather Barr | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – There is no better symbol for the disappearance of women’s rights in Afghanistan than the end of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the return of the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. When the Taliban on September 7 announced […]

Afghanistan

Generals on Afghanistan: Yes, Trump is Largely Responsible for Chaos

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Senate Hearing on the collapse of Afghanistan, at which the top US generals testified, underlined that actions taken by the Trump administration had a significant impact on undermining the Ashraf Ghani government and the Afghanistan National Army. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin admitted that, “The fact that the Afghan […]

Afghanistan

Are the Taliban Russia’s Problem now? Moscow Rushes to Arm Tajikistan

Nikola Mikovic

Belgrade (Special to Informed Comment) – Tensions rise between the Taliban – the de facto rulers of Afghanistan – and neighboring Russia-backed Tajikistan. The radical group accuses the former Soviet republic of interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, and is deploying fighters on the Afghan – Tajik border, while Moscow keeps providing military equipment to its […]