By Russ Schumacher | – Record downpours from Hurricane Ida overwhelmed cities across the Northeast on Sept. 1, 2021, hitting some with more than 3 inches of rain an hour. Water poured into subway stations in New York and Boston. Streets flooded up to the rooftops of cars in Philadelphia. The storm had already wreaked […]
Calculating the costs of the Afghanistan War in lives, dollars and years
By Neta C. Crawford | – The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to destroy al-Qaida, remove the Taliban from power and remake the nation. On Aug. 30, 2021, the U.S. completed a pullout of troops from Afghanistan, providing an uncertain punctuation mark to two decades of conflict. For the past 11 years I have […]
Out of Afghanistan: Joe Biden and the future of America’s foreign policy
By Andrew Mumford | – As the last US forces leave Afghanistan, President Joe Biden’s decision to press ahead with the American withdrawal has prompted the first major foreign policy crisis of his presidency. The harrowing pictures after the bombing attack at Kabul airport were the result of a desire on behalf of Biden to […]
The Taliban reportedly have control of US biometric devices – a lesson in life-and-death consequences of data privacy
By Margaret Hu | In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and the ouster of the Afghan national government, alarming reports indicate that the insurgents could potentially access biometric data collected by the U.S. to track Afghans, including people who worked for U.S. and coalition forces. Afghans who once supported the U.S. have […]
Afghanistan: Who’s Who in the Taliban’s ‘inclusive’ new Administration
By Amalendu Misra | – ( The Conversation) – As western powers frantically scramble to evacuate their citizens and the Afghan nationals who worked for them, the nature of the Taliban leadership’s intentions for how it intends to govern remains obscure. But if various messages fed in recent days to the international media are to […]
Afghan women’s lives are now in danger from the Taliban – but they have always faced male violence
By Jenevieve Mannell | – The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban has undoubtedly put women’s lives in danger and threatened their human rights in new ways. But if we want to help, we need to first understand that Afghan women’s lives were challenging long before the takeover. The threat of violence has long been […]
The history of the Taliban is crucial in understanding their success now – and also what might happen next
By Ali A. Olomi | – The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised. To Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, a key to understanding what is happening now – and what might take place next – is looking at the past and how […]
What is ISIS-K, the Organization that Bombed Kabul Airport?
By Amira Jadoon and Andrew Mines | – An attack on a crowd gathered outside Kabul’s airport on Aug. 26, 2021, has left at least 60 people dead, including at least a dozen U.S. Marines. ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the coordinated suicide bomb and gun assault, which came just days after President Joe Biden warned […]
The Taliban Religious Ideology is Blow-back from 200 Years of British Rule of India
By Sohel Rana and Sumit Ganguly | – Following the Taliban’s rapid taking of power in what it describes as a reestablished “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” fears of a certain kind of Islamist ideology being brought back have led a large number of Afghans to flee, or fear for their lives. The Taliban were known […]
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