Sunday’s killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by a small helicopter-borne team of U.S. Navy Seals could result in significant impacts on U.S. relations and strategy both in Pakistan, where the raid was carried out, and neighboring Afghanistan, where it was launched, according to policy experts. Analysts agreed that the operation, which targeted a …
Continue reading “Bin Laden’s Killing Could Alter Af-Pak Policies”
The central justification of the U.S.-NATO war against the Afghan Taliban – that the Taliban would allow al-Qaeda to return to Afghanistan – has been challenged by new historical evidence of offers by the Taliban leadership to reconcile with the Hamid Karzai government after the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001. The evidence …
Continue reading “Evidence of 2002 Taliban Offer Damages Myth of al-Qaeda Ties”
In Egypt, where protesters continued to demonstrate Tuesday for the eighth day in a row, the use of torture by law enforcement officials over the past two decades has contributed to the growing unrest, rights groups say. In a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the international advocacy group claims the practice is endemic …
Continue reading “Litany of Abuses Fueled Protesters’ Fury”
Despite a much-publicized “withdrawal” of U.S. troops last summer, American soldiers are still celebrating Christmas in Baghdad, but attacks have not stopped. At least 10 Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded in the latest violence.
If actions speak louder than words, the U.S. military this week seemed to confirm the pessimistic findings of the National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which it had pooh-poohed only last week. The military assessment emphasized a rosy picture of gains in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan, whereas …
Continue reading “A Radical Solution for the War in Afghanistan”
Yemen is diverting U.S. military counterterrorism assistance to an abusive military campaign unrelated to terrorist threats, a prominent human rights group has learned from WikiLeaks. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks this month stated that Yemen in 2009 repeatedly diverted U.S.-supported Yemeni counterterrorism forces and possibly U.S.-supplied military vehicles …
Continue reading “Yemen Funneled US Aid to Insurgency War”
You can’t turn on the TV news or pick up a paper these days without stumbling across the latest political poll and the pros explaining how to parse it, or some set of commentators, pundits, and reporters placing their bets on the midterm elections. The media, of course, loves a political horse race and, as …
Continue reading “Handicapping the Global Midterms”
Another dramatic gold store robbery occurred in Baghdad today. Authorities believe that insurgents are attacking gold and jewelry stores in order to support their activities. At least 17 Iraqis were killed and 16 more were wounded there and across northern Iraq. Also, Awakening Council leaders are denying reports that hundreds of their fighters have defected to al-Qaeda.
Following serious setbacks to the U.S. military’s war plan in Afghanistan, the Barack Obama administration has taken the first tentative step toward a negotiated settlement of the conflict by actively seeking to ascertain the willingness of the Taliban to enter into negotiations, according to a source familiar with the administration’s thinking about the issue. But …
Continue reading “US Still Taking a Hard Line on Peace Talks with Taliban”
Updated at 8:22 p.m. EDT, Sept. 19, 2010
An unusually quiet Saturday was followed by a very bloody Sunday in which at least 56 Iraqis were killed and 171 more were wounded. Baghdad again received most of the violence, for which a member of the Iraqi National Alliance blamed al-Qaeda and the political vacuum. Underscoring the unreliability of news accounts from Iraq since many international reporters left, a couple of the attacks that occurred yesterday went unreported until today and Mosul saw very little violence.
