Michael Hughes: The United States is not satisfied with simply intensifying airstrikes and loosening rules of engagements to terrorize the Afghan population because now it appears the White House is tempted to launch a CIA-run covert drone war. “The C.I.A. is pushing for expanded powers to carry out covert drone strikes in Afghanistan and other
Michael Hughes: China’s immediate public defense of Pakistan against charges of harboring terrorists levied by President Donald Trump should be seen as a troubling sign in Washington – for Beijing’s staunch support will allow Islamabad to destabilize Afghanistan indefinitely and with impunity. U.S. threats to cut-off aid and cozy up to India will also amount to
The Economist: Many Afghans clutch at their tribe rather than their country. These attitudes slide into political life. Regional politicians appeal to their own clan rather than to the national interest, and officials are often promoted on kinship instead of merit. None of this encourages good governance: ethnic disputes in parliament have ended in punch-ups. Similar
The New York Times: This spring, as Afghanistan policy was debated in Washington, the president asked for fresh options to end the war honorably. Faced with two choices — pulling out entirely or staying the course — I argued strongly for a new approach, a third path that would put in place a light footprint of
The Washington Post: “Nation-building” has become something of a lightning rod in foreign policy for both parties. Obama often said that “nation-building begins at home.” There is not a great rhetorical distance from that narrative to “Make America Great Again.” In reality, nation-building is the only strategy that is likely to produce the elusive exit from
Press TV August 23, 2017 US President Donald Trump has unveiled his administration’s new strategy in Afghanistan, saying he would continue the military intervention in the South Asian country. However, he did not provide details about the exact number of troops or the cost of a prolonged presence there. Press TV has talked to member of the ANSWER
Michael Hughes: The Taliban’s public relations stunt to flatter President Donald Trump into withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is crazy enough to work in light of the commander-in-chief’s long documented history of reacting positively to anyone – including rivals – who say anything positive about him. The Taliban in their “open letter” to Trump also lay out
Michael Hughes: Revelations that the U.S. Defense Department wasted more than $457 million on a failed intelligence program in Afghanistan surfaced at the wrong time for war hawks that want to boost troop levels by another 4,000, especially considering the sitting U.S. president promised voters that he would reduce the costs of overseas commitments in order
The National Interest: A contractor-led role in Afghanistan would confirm the narrative that America wants perpetual warfare and to rob the country of its riches. The leading American proponent of a resource-driven war in Afghanistan is Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Inspired by the British East India Company, Prince has called for replacing U.S. and coalition forces in
Forbes: The point being that there are a lot of rocks in Afghanistan, those rocks contain metals and if the metals were out of the rocks and out of Afghanistan then they’d be valuable. But they’re not out and out, the metals are still in the rocks in Afghanistan and thus aren’t valuable. As we can