VOA News January 2, 2017 Afghanistan’s first female fixed wing pilot in the country’s air force awaits a response to her asylum request to the United States, which she filed last month after receiving threats from Taliban insurgents, according to her lawyer. “Her reason for seeking asylum in the United States is she’s in fear
Michael Hughes: US and Afghan intelligence agencies apparently cannot stop themselves from supporting human rights-abusing strongmen like Perim Qul in their desperate effort to defeat the Taliban despite all evidence indicating the strategy has completely backfired. The insurgency cannot be defeated, however, if the Afghan government continues to alienate the population by backing predatory militias who
The New York Times: — President Obama’s advisers wrestled with an intractable problem in the spring and summer of 2015: How could they stabilize Afghanistan while preserving Mr. Obama’s longtime goal of pulling out the last American troops before he left office? Click here to read more (external link).
The Boston Globe: There is much that is compelling about the story of Captain Niloofar Rahmani, Afghanistan’s first female military pilot, who just completed flight training in the United States. It is a remarkable achievement for any Afghan woman to rise to such public professional heights. All of which makes her recently revealed request for asylum
The Guardian (UK): The US military and the CIA are turning a blind eye as Afghanistan’s spy agency spends foreign donor money on militias which are committing human rights abuses that help destabilise the fragile country, according to local and western officials. The Afghan national directorate of security (NDS) arms strongmen ostensibly to fight the Taliban
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 23, 2016 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban has rejected latest United Nations calls for engaging in peace talks with the Afghan government, and instead demanded the world body pressure U.S.-led foreign troops to end their “occupation” of Afghanistan if the U.N. truly wants an end to the 15-year war. “Our fight is
Tolo News: The United States has called for an impartial and serious investigation into allegations made by former member of National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, Ahmad Eshchi, against the First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum. A spokesman for U.S Secretary of State John Kirby said they are upset about the alleged illegal arrest and treatment of
Tolo News: Michael McKinley, United States (U.S) ambassador to Afghanistan, on Saturday said allegations lodged by Ahmad Eschi, against First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum should be investigated transparently. McKinley said he was shocked to hear of the allegations by Eshchi that Dostum had allegedly ordered his men to beat him up and sexually assault
VOA News December 15, 2016 The Pakistan prime minister’s foreign policy aide tells VOA that Pakistan-India relations are “passing through a difficult phase” and that Islamabad would be open to offers of assistance regarding talks with New Delhi, including from the incoming Trump administration. Late last month, President-elect Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz
Asia Times: In its 2016 annual report, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said there is “reasonable basis to believe that, at a minimum,” US forces subjected at least 61 persons in Afghanistan to “war crimes of torture and related ill-treatment” and another 27 at CIA detention facilities in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania to “torture,