Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Taliban announced Thursday that they are considering a “leadership council” government for the country. But it sounds to me like a Sunni knock-off of the Khomeinist model in Shiite Iran. This in the wake of violent suppression of flag protests on Thursday that bode ill for any sort of […]
Public Opinion largely Supportive of Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, despite Angst over Chaotic Process
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The abrupt collapse of the government of President Ashraf Ghani and his supposed 300,000 security forces in the past two weeks clearly caught the Biden administration by surprise. It is the most serious crisis yet for the new administration, and has shaken public confidence in the president, giving him the […]
Taliban “Islam” versus the Islam of the Prophet Muhammad and the Qur’an
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – British academic Abdul-Azim Ahmed of Cardiff University, an expert on mosques in the UK, complained on Twitter that he was invited onto television to debate whether the Taliban represent Islam: Just had a call from a journo asking if I could go on live to debate whether the Taliban represent […]
The Biden Doctrine and Afghanistan: Lean Counter-Terrorism and the end of Bloated Nation-Building
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden came out swinging on Monday in defense of his decision to get out of Afghanistan. The rapidity of the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul before the Taliban advance in the past week raised questions about the wisdom of the move among critics of the […]
Top 6 International Winners and Losers from Taliban Reassertion in Afghanistan
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the establishment of a Taliban government in the entirety of Afghanistan has dire implications for Afghans, especially women, urban people, Hazara Shiites, and generally non-fundamentalists. It also has implications outside the country. Here is a quick scorecard of the drawbacks and benefits […]
Deja Vu all over Again: The last Time Mazar-i Sharif Fell to the Taliban, there were Massacres
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In May, 1997, the Taliban swept into Mazar-i Sharif, the capital of the northern Balkh Province. Horrible events ensued, which I’ll tell you about. Right now, it is important to say that Al Jazeera reports that Mazar fell to the Taliban again on August 14, 2021, as the Afghanistan National […]
Crazy like a Fox: Spreading false meme of “Flamer” birds killed by Solar Plant is Louie Gohmert’s way of Dividing Environmentalists
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mark Twain observed, “All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.” Texas Representative Louie Gohmert isn’t quite ancient enough to have been the object of Twains’ wrath, but he exemplifies the idiocy in public life of […]
A new Palestinian generation is leading a different media strategy
By Linda Shalash | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Among the most important outcomes of the events in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem, and the subsequent Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, is the emergence of a new, unconventional Palestinian generation, which led the media battle against the occupation locally and […]
The Great Washington Ponzi Scheme in Afghanistan comes Crashing Down
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United States lost the Afghanistan War a long time ago, as is quickly becoming apparent as the Taliban take city after city. After 2002, it was never clear what the US war aim was. You can’t win a war if you don’t have a clear objective. The war is […]
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