Tag: afghanistan

Afghanistan: Is It Really the End Game?

Gunmen in Pakistan on Monday set ablaze five trucks carrying NATO equipment out of Afghanistan as the international military alliance winds down it combat mission there, officials said. -Agence-France Presse, 3/1/13 There is nothing that better sums up the utter failure of America’s longest war than international forces getting ambushed as they try to get … Continue reading “Afghanistan: Is It Really the End Game?”

Thanking Bradley Manning, From Afghanistan

A few evenings ago, as the sky began to darken here in Kabul, Afghanistan, a small group of the Afghan Peace Volunteers, (APVs), gathered for an informal presentation about WikiLeaks, its chief editor Julian Assange, and its most prominent contributor, Bradley Manning. Basir Bita, a regular visitor to the APV household, began the evening’s discussion … Continue reading “Thanking Bradley Manning, From Afghanistan”

Tales in a Kabul Restaurant

Kabul – Since 2009, Voices for Creative Nonviolence has maintained a grim record we call the “The Afghan Atrocities Update” which gives the dates, locations, numbers and names of Afghan civilians killed by NATO forces. Even with details culled from news reports, these data can’t help but merge into one large statistic, something about terrible … Continue reading “Tales in a Kabul Restaurant”

Afghanistan War May End By 2024 … Maybe

Hamid Karzai has let the Pentagon’s cat out of the bag — to the displeasure of the Obama Administration. The Afghan president revealed inside information about President Obama’s war plans after all U.S. “combat troops” completely withdraw in 17 months at the end of 2014. As was known in recent years, the Obama Administration actually … Continue reading “Afghanistan War May End By 2024 … Maybe”

Unravelling the Propaganda of Impending Civil War in Afghanistan

Western fears of a civil war in Afghanistan are growing ahead of the scheduled pullout of international troops in 2014. However, experts here say the situation on the ground is not comparable to either 1988, when the Soviets withdrew from the country, or the mujahideen’s rise to power in 1992, which plunged the country into … Continue reading “Unravelling the Propaganda of Impending Civil War in Afghanistan”

Political Decentralization Might Help in Conflict-Ridden Countries

What do Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan have in common? Although it’s true that the United States has conducted recent military interventions in all of them, the more fundamental answer is that they are all artificial countries. That is, they are each made up of feuding ethno-sectarian groups or tribes. And perhaps the instability … Continue reading “Political Decentralization Might Help in Conflict-Ridden Countries”

How the Pentagon Corrupted Afghanistan

America’s post-9/11 conflicts have been wars of corruption, a point surprisingly seldom made in the mainstream media. Keep in mind that George W. Bush’s administration was a monster of privatization. It had its own set of crony corporations, including Halliburton, KBR, Bechtel, and various oil companies, as well as a set of mercenary rent-a-gun outfits like Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple … Continue reading “How the Pentagon Corrupted Afghanistan”

SOF Troops Still in Wardak as Joint US-Afghan Probe Continues

Two weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded the withdrawal of all U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) from Wardak province by this date, the issue remains suspended in negotiations between U.S. and Afghan governments. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel planned to discuss the matter with Karzai Sunday, but the meeting was postponed after a security … Continue reading “SOF Troops Still in Wardak as Joint US-Afghan Probe Continues”

Afghanistan, Garden of Empire

Excerpted from Cruel Harvest: US Intervention in the Afghan Drug Trade (Pluto Press, 2013), by Julien Mercille. As Obama proclaims that the US adventure in Afghanistan will draw to a close over the next couple years, we may look at the balance sheet with respect to one of the occupation’s alleged justifications: the fight against … Continue reading “Afghanistan, Garden of Empire”