Michael Hughes: The Taliban continuing attacks amid the coronavirus outbreak reveals not only a total disregard for life but a suicidal mentality given all of humanity’s real enemy is an invisible indiscriminate killer – it chooses no sides, sees no jersey colors. An escalation in Taliban attacks comes just as the rest of the world is at
Asia Times: It makes for a gripping intellectual exercise to study a country in the throes of a pivotal change that throws it off its familiar path. The study of such turnabout moments in Afghanistan, however, is not as promising, because of their sheer frequency. The country in at least five of the past decades
The Daily Beast: U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted last week, “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.” The tweet followed the dangerous maneuvers on April 15 by Iranian naval vessels near U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. The
Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska via The Diplomat: “Over the last five years, the United States has claimed that it has killed several different leaders of the Islamic State, Khorasan Province branch, through airstrikes and special operations. None of these previous deaths or removals of a leader of this group were enough to eliminate its ability to strike
Michael Hughes: It is hard to envision the powers that be in Afghanistan – amid ongoing civil war and political disunity – devising a coherent strategy to handle the coronavirus outbreak and the concomitant economic freefall. As of April 15, Afghanistan had 784 confirmed coronavirus cases in at least 27 of the country’s 34 provinces,
Yun Sun via warontherocks.com: With the U.S. troop withdrawal in sight, Afghanistan’s future seems less certain than ever. As a neighboring state with significant interests at stake, how does China view and prepare for Afghanistan’s future? The enhancement of Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan will not only indirectly contribute to China’s influence but also potentially improve
Michael Hughes March 31, 2020 It will be nearly impossible for conflict-torn countries like Afghanistan to fight the coronavirus pandemic without immediate assistance from major states and aid organizations across the globe, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a new action alert. “Health systems in conflict zones in places such as
Michael Hughes: Legitimacy has long been king in Afghanistan. Without political legitimacy, there is chaos. This may be true in most countries but, as per history, the correlation in Afghanistan is stronger than in most. Hence, it is no accident that Afghanistan has been mired in civil war since the delicate ethno-sectarian-tribal balance was disrupted
Michael Hughes: The newly-inked U.S.-Taliban “peace” agreement – a pact that excludes the actual sitting internationally-recognized government of Afghanistan – will never bring peace to the war-torn country because it was never really designed to. The agreement and February 29 signing ceremony in Doha are all part of a publicity charade that will weaponize President Donald
Press TV February 27, 2020 The current situation in Afghanistan is very similar to what transpired in Vietnam prior to the US withdrawal, says Professor Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an