The moral argument for the invasion and War in Afghanistan used to be that of liberal interventionism—the claim that intervening in the domestic politics of a country is justified if it delivered the people of that country from the clutches of illiberality and coercive governance. Further the claim went that if offered a chance, the people […]
Walter Russell Mead, an esteemed scholar of American history, and provocative observer of current geopolitical trends is attempting to see the world through Pakistan’s eyes. Here’s his Pak-Vision of the situation in Afghanistan through Islamabad’s view: The second major issue shaping negative Pakistani feelings about the United States is almost as important. Pakistanis are on […]
Max Boot , Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and most importantly a Petraeus advisor, had a chat with Charlie Rose. I invite you, my reader, to watch the whole interview here. There are a few takeaways that you might want to keep in mind as you watch Boot […]
Seems like one Chechen rebel leader should’ve thought twice before clicking “Upload” on his you-tube resignation video! Two days after his original clip appeared to announce his resignation in favour of Aslambek Vadalov, indecisive Doku Umarov says he changed his mind. “In connection with the situation shaping up in the Caucasus, I consider it impossible […]
Totally moderate! That’s what Akhmed Zakayev, another former rebel leader now living in London, says. And naturally, that’s what’s been obediently parroted by the English language press (the Russian press has been (UN)surprisingly silent on the matter, believe it or not!). Reuters printed unchallenged Zakayev’s comments that the new leader, Aslambek Vadalov, represents a moderate […]
After Faheem poignantly detailed President Karzai’s disapproval of the Wikileaks document leak, we now have Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ strong reaction from the incident: “I’m not sure anger is the right word. I just — I think mortified, appalled,” Gates said. “And if I’m angry, it is because I believe that this information puts those in Afghanistan […]
On holiday, Comrades! Still there. Will return next week!
During a press conference President Hamid Karzai responded to the WikiLeaks document dump. He took a hard line on Pakistan, though in the language of diplomatic speak. Echoing U.S. Congressional leaders Karzai spoke out against at least one of Afghanistan’s neighbors: A widely run Associated Press piece quotes him: “The international community is here to […]
Greg Mortenson, humanitarian activist, education entrepreneur in Afghanistan and to a great extent Pakistan, spoke to Charlie Rose a few days ago. The conversation was broadcast yesterday. During the talk Mr. Mortenson highlights the importance of the Afghan tribal elders in achieving a settled peace. That’s to say he is arguing that the U.S and […]
Politico just posted a new piece on the fall-out of the WikiLeaks document dump. Former Director of the CIA, Michael Hayden has gone record to say that More importantly contrary to– or even consistent with– WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assanges’ claim that he has withheld 15,000 documents that reveal the identities of Afghan’s who have aided […]
The news filtering out of Afghanistan has been damning for what some have called the American cowboy of doing politics. Shoot first; ask questions later. Defeat your enemy in battle; only then figure out a way to keep him defeated in the war. Game theorists work with a concept called subgame perfection, where the stable […]
Apparently, the word ‘secret’ has lost all meaning nowadays. The New York Times, Guardian, and Der Speigel have all published reports using thousands of pages of classified American intelligence reports on the war in Afghanistan from 2004-2009 given to them by Wikileaks. The United States government condemned the disclosure of these secret documents and so […]
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