Michael Hughes: Afghanistan for at least the fifth time in the past eight years has experienced a “Tet-like” offensive – that is, if you believe military pundits, scholars and reporters who often cannot resist historical analogies even if it comes at the expense of true clarity. This is not to say the siege of Ghazni
Eisa Ayoobi via The Globe Post: Ashraf Ghani and Zalmay Khalilzad have been the most influential Afghan-Americans to impact U.S.-Afghanistan relations over the decades. Their education and Washington-based experience have earned them rhetoric sway and a vastly influential network of friends. However, their ethnonationalism-aspired Afghanistan “vision” has cost the U.S. thousands of lives and “trillions of
Political commentators and cartoonists are taking aim at President Ashraf Ghani’s recent comment about offering ice cream to the Taliban. ***
Michael Hughes: Imran Khan has been referred to as Pakistan’s Donald Trump, an apt comparison on one level given they are both mercurial, egoistical, nationalistic and demagogic. However, one main difference is that the playboy cricketer turned Islamic firebrand colluded with the deep state to win his election. Although Rawalpindi has always called the shots, having a
Javid Ahmad via The National Interest: Afghanistan is struggling to recover from damage done by war and tumultuous politics. To be sure, despite progress made towards self-reliance, the Afghan economy is still mostly donor-dependent. Despite a marginal increase in the total government expenditures between 2014 and 2017, donor grants provided to offset the Afghan budget represented an
IANS: The moment is laden with irony for President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul. The emergence of a Pathan in Islamabad should have provided him with comfort. Instead he is having kittens: the Pathan on the other side has an agenda which is totally at cross purposes with Ghani’s. Imran’s agenda would boost his popularity in the
The Conversation: For the past two years, Paul Brereton, a New South Wales Supreme Court judge and Army Reserve major general, has been conducting an investigation into the conduct of members of the SAS in Afghanistan. While the findings are not yet known, leaks from within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have suggested that as many
Ahmad Mohibi via The Diplomat: Vice President Dostum’s return to Afghanistan underlines the complexity of the battle for political influence. The underlying problem in Afghanistan is longstanding ethnic conflict and fears. Throughout history, Pashtuns predominantly ruled the nation and considered themselves the dominant ethnic group — but were not the majority of the population… The technocrats – represented
Shazar Shafqat via The Hill: The Taliban only needs to avoid losing in order to remain intact, whereas the U.S. forces need to win every time, all the time. That’s why — despite having scored several tactical level victories in Afghanistan — a strategic level victory has always eluded the United States. That’s why the idea
The Washington Post: A new administration initiative — an attempt to jump-start peace talks by opening a direct dialogue between U.S. and Taliban officials — deserves cautious support. If it can be pursued without undermining the government of Ashraf Ghani, it is worth a try. Click here to read more (external link).