Lowy Institute: The neo-patrimonial state that developed under President Hamid Karzai and persists under President Ashraf Ghani has proved incapable of offering effective protection for vulnerable populations. The international community, too, has been ineffective in confronting the problem of “sanctuaries” in Pakistan from which the Taliban operate with impunity. The Hazaras in Khas Uruzgan, Jaghori, and
IPD: As Washington seeks to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, it has sought various avenues to change the course of the war. Despite exhausting a variety of resources and billions of dollars, Washington’s policies have yet to address the root cause of the war: Pakistan’s pivotal role in the Taliban’s insurgency. Instead, Washington has acknowledged Pakistan’s
“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
The Hill: The situation in Afghanistan is murky no longer – because it has, to a large extent, spiraled out of control. Rather than seeking a win-win scenario in which the United States might forge a deal with the Taliban for a more peaceful country, U.S. officials instead seem hell-bent on delivering to the Taliban everything
Al Jazeera: Russia is seeking to re-assert itself as a major player in Afghanistan – For keen observers of Russian foreign policy, it was clear that the conference was not more than a photo-op meant to publicly declare the Kremlin’s ambition to re-assert itself in the southern part of Central Asia and Afghanistan in particular. Click here
Asia Times: For the US, it makes more sense to allow India to continue developing Chabahar port than for China to ‘hijack’ yet another strategically important port — A port in Chabahar, Iran’s southernmost city, was exempted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from sanctions, which he called “the toughest ever put in place”, in
A Special Commentary by Michael Hughes
Eisa Khan Ayoob Ayoobi via The Globe Post: The National “Unity” Government (NUG) was formed through a power-sharing deal to harmonize and protect the society. But in reality, it has emerged as a tribal monocracy and just a facade, plagued by disunity and ethnonationalism. As the head of NUG, Ashraf Ghani, since his illegitimate rise to power,
Michael Hughes: Afghan CEO and co-leader Abdullah Abdullah put forth the dubious proposition that the Trump administration’s South Asia strategy is working because without it the situation would be much worse. In the first place, Abdullah cites an unprovable counterfactual that can be employed to support any claim regardless of empirical results. Moreover, there is plenty
Eisa Khan Ayoobi via Al Jazeera: The NUG is struggling with containing the Taliban and addressing internal divisions – [Ghani’s] intra-Pashtun clan politics seems to have made reaching out to the Taliban more difficult. The Taliban leadership are Durrani Pashtun from Kandahar who take pride in being the descendants of “conventional” Afghan rulers like Ahmad Shah Durrani.