Michael Hughes: A U.S. drone operator amid the first ceasefire Afghanistan has ever witnessed decided to launch a projectile into Kunar province to vaporize a morally repugnant Pakistani Taliban leader. The point, however, is not whether the mission succeeded or if he on the receiving end of the strike were target-worthy. The point is what was
Al Jazeera (Ahmed Rashid): It appears that pressure from Pakistan on the Taliban Shura which largely resides in the Pakistani border town of Quetta has been instrumental in pushing the Taliban to agree to a ceasefire. According to Lisa Curtis, deputy assistant to US President Donald Trump, Washington has been pursuing “multiple lines of effort” for bringing peace to Afghanistan
The Diplomat: The concept of special economic zones in Afghanistan is not intentional, rather accidental. The scheduled withdrawal plan of U.S. and NATO forces in 2014 left a huge amount of infrastructure to Afghan forces. This included $2 billion worth of infrastructure and equipment at eight strategic airfields in the country, equipped with sophisticated machinery and a well-developed
Michael Hughes: Outgoing U.S. Forces Afghanistan Commander General John Nicholson during his final press conference, lacking anything of substance to point to in terms of progress during his two-year watch, cited covert talks between the Taliban and Kabul as one of the key achievements of President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy, befuddling a crowd of mostly
AA: Political stability and peace-building are among the key concerns of today’s Afghan people, but also the areas they are most disappointed about. In recent years, the popular belief that the Afghan society could really progress toward peace and political stability has been severely shaken. The belief that the country could one day unite did not
Michael Hughes: International and local humanitarian aid workers at the request of Afghan authorities are preparing to launch a drought rescue mission in areas practically inaccessible to the government where more than 100,000 of the most vulnerable people reside. The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) appears to be leading the charge as worsening drought conditions threaten
Al Jazeera: It was in my first year in Afghanistan that I first met John ‘Mick’ Nicholson, then a Lieutenant General working on US policy in Kabul, but a soldier who knew what was going on at the sharp end of the conflict having fought in the deadly Korengal Valley. Mick, as he was happy
War on the Rocks: The sooner Trump translates his instincts on ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan into policy, the better for America. A withdrawal will improve American national security and strengthen economic prosperity. Extricating U.S. troops from Afghanistan will not be easy, however, because there are many in Washington — senior military leaders among
The National Interest: During the early days after the 9/11 attacks and the initiation of the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan it was relatively common to reference the woeful Soviet experience in that country. Here was a clear paradigm of what not to do in order to avoid getting stuck in a quagmire. Surely, American leaders would