The Guardian (UK): The longest, most pointless and unsuccessful war that Britain has fought in the past 70 years – its intervention in Afghanistan – is to end in September. I doubt anyone will notice. Nations celebrate victories, not defeats. What has the US and UK intervention achieved? The military theorist Gen Sir Rupert Smith,
Michael Hughes: U.S. President Joe Biden and his brain trust seem uncertain about if, when and how NATO forces will leave Afghanistan a month before an exit deadline that, if missed, will see American troops come under Taliban fire. To be fair, Biden faced a no-win situation in Afghanistan and deep internal contradictions within the
Michael Hughes: The Afghan state will completely collapse if international donors pull funding due to concerns over corruption, which seems to be growing by the day. Predatory Afghan officials – often in league with warlords and transnational criminal organizations – are emptying government coffers as everyone seems to have their attention turned to whether or
By Said Sabir Ibrahimi Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 13, 2021 Public opinion around the world unanimously and rightly condemned the heinous assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the hand of his own government, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in Istanbul in 2018. The United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) conducted a thorough investigation that concluded, “Mr.
Michael Hughes: U.S. State Department envoy Zalmay Khalilzad faces a daunting task – persuading the Taliban not to launch an offensive against Western troops that are likely to stay beyond the withdrawal deadline set by the Doha pact. The reboot in talks with the Taliban comes as the insurgents vow to kill any U.S. forces that
Michael Hughes: NATO defense chiefs at their upcoming ministerial are expected to approve a plan to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the May Doha agreement deadline due to the Taliban’s alleged failure to divorce al-Qaeda and the need to support intra-Afghan talks. However, the irony is the decision will ensure a nearly dead peace process
The American Conservative: The Afghanistan Study Group has a new report out and its recommendation remains ever the same: more troops. With the 20th anniversary of the Afghanistan war now just around the corner, Americans might reasonably wonder whether the nation’s longest war is ever going to end. After carefully considering the question, two retired
Michael Hughes: The Taliban last week threatened to kill any American troop that remains in Afghanistan beyond the deadline of the peace deal the group struck with the Trump administration. The insurgent group is freely willing to make such a threat because it feels it holds all the cards. As a Taliban commander told a Western military
Michael Hughes: President-elect Joe Biden may have no choice but to allow Zalmay Khalilzad to stay on as U.S. envoy to Afghanistan for reasons of continuity amid the ongoing negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban. Khalilzad, a native Afghan turned American cowboy, is not taking any chances, however, as he aggressively pushes President Ashraf Ghani
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 12, 2021 By Said Sabir Ibrahimi and Pashtana Durrani Islamic education is already an integral part of Afghanistan’s so-called “secular” educational system, in addition to pure religious teachings at mosques, madrasahs, and Shariat faculties across the country. But the Education Ministry recently proposed a new policy approach in which Islam will become part of