BBC News: A new documentary celebrates Ahmad Zahir, the ‘60s and ‘70s icon who mysteriously died in 1979. Arwa Haider talks to the people making the film, including Zahir’s daughter, about how the singer combined popularity with protest. Click here to read more (external link).
The Washington Post: The war lasted for nearly a decade. Among its consequences were 1 million civilian casualties; the rise of Islamist fundamentalist groups (backed by the West as a counterweight to the Soviets); and the collapse of the Soviet economy, which precipitated the end of the Soviet Union, which is now so lamented by both
International Policy Digest: On the 11th of June, 2002, a Loya Jirga was held to transfer power to the Afghan Transitional Authority. While King Mohammed Zahir Shah had considerable support from the delegates, the United States decided to back Hamid Karzai instead. Had the Bush administration not sidelined the King, these last 15 years might have been
“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” -Lord Palmerston, speech in House of Commons, 1848 Michael Hughes November 16, 2018 The Russian government escalated its involvement in the 21st Century’s version of the Great Game by
VOA News | October 18, 2018: French and Afghan archaeologists are digging through the ruins of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley to uncover the mysteries of a great lost city. (VOA)
Insider: On October 7, the US entered its 18th year of war in Afghanistan. What started as retaliation for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City has spiraled as insurgents like the Taliban have regrouped and restrengthened over the years. 2018 is projected to be the deadliest year in
Business Insider: By the mid-1980s, the Soviet war in Afghanistan had reached something of a stalemate. To turn the tide, the US introduced Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to erode Soviet control of the air. In the years since, the Stingers and US policy in Afghanistan have become a headache, but CIA personnel involved in the Stinger program
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 1, 2018 Sibghatullah Mojadedi, Mohammad Mohaqiq, and Mohammad Khan are among Afghanistan’s most prominent onetime hard-line Islamists. But the former warlords’ credentials have been questioned by some Afghans after they attended a celebration marking Chinese communism in Kabul. The three gray-bearded men, clad in traditional Afghan garb, were
New York Times: The bay windows in the Bost Hotel’s dining room looked out across the Helmand River. For all the river’s immensity, the current, borne hundreds of miles from up in the Hindu Kush, spoke only in whispers. The air hummed with mosquitoes. Beyond the river, on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan September 9, 2018 KABUL — A suicide bomber on a motorcycle has blown himself up near a procession in the Afghan capital commemorating the death of a revered resistance leader, killing at least seven people, officials say. Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai told RFE/RL that more than 20 people were wounded