February-March 2009 Links

February-March 2009 Links

Afghanistan-Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan

• 'Pashtunistan'--the borderlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan--holds key to Obama mission


• Afghan leader accused of bid to 'legalise rape' among Shi'a minority


• Afghan sepulcher?


• Afghan Women Slowly Gaining Protection


• Afghanistan: Chaos Central


• Afghanistan: Experiment with Democracy


• Afghanistan: Lost in translation


• America’s Confused Cause in Central Asia


• An Alternative to War in Afghanistan


• Another War Lost?


• Barack Obama's Afghan quagmire keeps getting deeper


• Blown Up in Bin Laden Country


• British Muslims 'providing Taliban with electronic devices for roadside bombs'


• British to play smaller role as U.S. troops fight 'losing battle'


• Can Sufi Islam counter the Taleban?


• Chaudhry’s Reinstatement Lifts Pakistanis’ Hopes


• Court Backs Afghan Journalist’s Prison Term for Blasphemy


• Deals with the Taliban could be dangerous


• Drawn and Quartered


• Dreaming of Splitting the Taliban


• Emergency Rule, Mass Arrests Leave Pakistan on the Brink


• Enduring Warlord


• Former warlord to fight Karzai in Afghanistan polls


• Glasnost in London, War Fever in Washington


• Going the Distance


• Grim struggle continues for women in Afghanistan


• Handing the Swat Valley to the Taliban was shameful and wrong


• Hundreds Arrested in Punjab, Suspension of Civil Liberties Instituted, and Some Set Out on Long March


• In Pakistani Opposition, a Mix of Motivations


• Kyrgyzstan's Revenge


• Many in Afghanistan oppose Obama's troop buildup plans


• Marching for Democracy in Pakistan


• Militant attack on cricket team in Pakistan could backfire


• Military Ultimatum Forced Resolution to Pakistan Crisis


• NATO is deeper in its Afghan mire than Russia ever was


• No Quick Fix for Pakistan's Tribal Areas


• Obama and the War in Afghanistan


• Obama anti-terrorism plan could be doomed to fail


• One Country, Three Futures


• Ousted Pakistan Chief Justice Restored: Crisis Appears Over


• Pakistan's evolving sectarian schism


• Pakistan's tenuous gains on Taliban


• Pakistan in Turmoil Over Sharif Bans


• Pakistan Lurches Toward the Abyss


• Policing Afghanistan: Obama's New Strategy


• Poll Shows Afghan Populace Losing Faith in Govt, NATO


• Protests against Pakistani government turn violent


• Taliban Commander’s Death Ends an Embarrassment for Karzai Government


• The Cambridge chaplain fighting fanaticism by radio in Pakistan's Swat valley


• The Other Side of the Coin


• Twilight in Afghanistan


• U.K. troops fighting British Muslims in Afghanistan


• U.S. aid effort under fire in Pakistan border area


• U.S. finds new Afghan supply route


• U.S. Gear Ending Up in Pakistan Markets


• U.S. military has lost 222,000 weapons sent to Afghanistan since 2001


• U.S. supply routes in Afghanistan squeezed 2 ways


• U.S. supply routes to Afghanistan suffer two huge blows


• Where the Wild Things Are


• Who Will Rein in the War in Afghanistan?

Africa

• Battling Christian Terrorists


• No No-Fly Zones over Darfur


• The feud over Ishmael Beah's child-soldier memoir, A Long Way Gone


• Why Arab leaders embrace Sudan's indicted president

American-Israeli Relations

• Abrams Confirms His New Role


• Breaking the Taboo on Israel's Spying Efforts on the United States


• Chas Freeman and Saudi Money


• Israel's national security aide barred from U.S.


• Ex-Lobbyists in U.S. Case of Espionage Win a Round


• Intelligence Chairman Freeman Stirs Israeli Ire


• Is the Israel Lobby Running Scared?


• Jeffrey Goldberg's gasping, dying smear tactics


• Lobby? What Lobby?


• Should AIPAC Decide What's Classified?


• The Defamation League

Balkans

• Clinton's Kosovo Frauds


• Former Serb president cleared of Kosovo crimes


• NATO Cluster Bombs Still Threaten Thousands in Serbia: Report


• The EU is still divided over Kosovo's status, one year on from its declaration of independence


• The legacy of Kosovo? International paternalism


• The Nation Formerly Known as Yugoslavia


• The Prophet's Fifth Column: Islamists Gain Ground in Sarajevo

Iran

• A Call To End 'Death To America' Chants In Iran


• Don't Let the Iran Headlines Scare You


• Iran's Détente Gesture to Obama?


• Iran, the Jews, and Germany


• Khatami quits presidential race, supports fellow reformist


• Muslim Weapons of Mass Destruction


• On the streets of Tehran, even the hardliners are weary of presidential platitudes


• Return of the War Party

Iraq

• A coup for Maliki and a secular Iraq


• Debt as a unifying force in Iraq


• Interview with Patrick Cockburn: Preliminary results from the Iraqi provincial elections, the strong performance of nationalist and secular parties compared to religious parties, the whereabouts of Muqtada al-Sadr and the role his militia and political factions will play in Iraq’s future, the patronage system developed between Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa party and tribal councils that contributed to their electoral success, and the near-certainty that U.S. occupation is coming to an end.


• Iran Did Not Lose the Provincial Elections


• Iraq's Provincial Elections: What to Watch For


• Iraq's voices of pessimism


• Iraq shoe thrower sentenced to three years in jail


• Iraqi Refugees Returning to Danger Zone to Escape Poverty in Utah


• Iraqis worry over U.S. pullout


• Is the U.S. Paying Off the Italian Government for Forging the Niger Documents?


• Obama's Withdrawal Non-Withdrawal Plan


• Obama to extend Iraq withdrawal timetable; 50,000 troops to stay


• Pentagon knowingly exposed troops to cancer-causing chemicals, document shows


• Pssst, the War's Not Over


• Sadr facing leadership challenge


• Shoe-Throwing Journalist Sentenced to Three Years


• The mysterious case of Mohammed al-Dainy


• The Myth of Kurdistan


• U.S. tests military exit routes out of Iraq


• Violence and intimidation mark run-up to Iraqi elections


• We're really leaving Iraq


• Why 10,000 Ugandans are eagerly working in Iraq

Islam

• Banned Dutch MP Geert Wilders hits out at 'cowards' after being sent back


• Christian Middle East exodus worries churches


• Geert Wilders on HARDtalk: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (YouTube videos)


• Islam and the West: Lines of Demarcation


• Let's Not Make Room For Islam In The Judeo-Christian Tradition


• Middle East Salafism and the Radicalization of Muslim Communities in Europe


• On Interaction With Non-Muslims


• Saudi Arabia says only mosques allowed


• Science and Islam in Conflict


• Science and the Islamic world: the quest for rapprochement


• Somali-Americans Recruited by Islamists


• The Darker Side


• The Kingdom in the Closet


• The War Within: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 (YouTube videos)


• Will Muslim Immigration destroy Western Democracy?

Israel-Palestine

• 'Most Israelis unsatisfied with election results'


• An Arab-made misery


• Arab men seek Israeli brides


• Hamas murder campaign in Gaza exposed


• How 'Canadians' almost ignited a war


• How Hamas uses murder and torture to erase Fatah rivals


• Let's leverage the good demographic news


• Netanyahu: The leader who struts like a superpower


• Palestinian orchestra shut down after performing for Holocaust survivors in Israel


• Remember Ophira?


• Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of illegal settlement


• The nightmare of Netanyahu returns


• The Rewriting, Un-rewriting, and Re-rewriting of History


• The Rise of Avigdor Lieberman


• Two Palestinian women become judges in Islamic court


• U.N. Halts Gaza Aid, Citing Hamas Thefts

Lebanon-Syria

• Hezbollah: A Primer


• Hezbollah spends millions to rebuild stronghold


• Israel, Hezbollah: Has deterrance worked?


• Lebanese in Shock Over Arrest of an Accused Spy


• Syria's interests in Lebanon

Russia and Its Neighbours

• Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam


• Georgia, a Nation Stalled On the Road to Democracy


• Ingushetia tries new tactics to quell insurgency


• To Russia, With Hate

Illegal and Questionable U.S./British Government Policies

• Britain’s omertà on torture is a crime


• Bush administration reversed claims of wartime powers


• Counter Intelligence


• If You Are Reading This, You May Already be a Terrorist


• Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh Describes 'Executive Assassination Ring'


• John Yoo is Sorry for Nothing


• Masterful Masters on Our Masters


• Obama's Defense of Rumsfeld and Yoo


• Obama's efforts to block a judicial ruling on Bush's illegal wiretapping


• Obama's Policy on Civil Liberties: Bush Lite?


• Obama lawyers argue to drop Yoo torture suit


• Our Enemy, the President


• Post-9/11 reforms don’t stop passport fakery


• Prisoner's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots


• Prosecuting Terrorist Trials in U.S. Courts Poses Tremendous Hurdles


• Ron Paul agitates Jim Baker over War Powers during hearing (YouTube video)


• Science of Amerithrax


• Secret Bush Memo Authorizing Warrantless Seizure Of 'Terror Suspects' Released


• Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay


• The enemies of Jim Crow


• The failure to free Binyam Mohamed signals Obama's backsliding on torture


• The Groundwork Has Already Been Laid for Martial Law


• The Indefinite Future of Indefinite Detention


• The Martial Law Mindset


• The mission of the Beltway journalist


• The Newly Released Secret Laws of the Bush Administration


• U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses al-Marri's Challenge of His Detention


• U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Limits President’s Power to Detain Legal Residents


• Unredacted documents reveal prisoners tortured to death


• Was Binyam Mohamed brutalized at Guantanamo in the last month?


• Why Is the Obama Administration Defending John Yoo?


• Why it matters that the Army was on the streets of Samson, Alabama


• You Can't Be a Christian and Tolerate Torture

War and Intervention

• Anti-narcotics drive has fuelled drug cartels: U.N.


• Did the U.S. Learn Anything in Iraq?


• Farewell, Monroe Doctrine


• Germany and Poland square up in row over war


• Noninterventionists Need Not Apply


• Ron Paul: The end of the war in Iraq is not near (YouTube video)


• The Christian and War


• The Offensive Side of Missile Defense


• The Psychology of War

Uncategorized

• An Arab Poet Who Dares to Differ


• Annoying Words


• Caesar Is Not God


• Declaration of Cultural Independence


• Genetic Engineering of Crops Is Not the Answer


• Monsters in the making?


• Rethink Stem Cells? Science Already Has


• The End of Newspapers? Or Is There a Journalism School Model?


• The Great College Hoax


• The New Totalitarianism


• The Pope, HIV/AIDS, and Africa

January 2009 Links

January 2009 Links

Afghanistan

• Afghanistan caught in friendly fire


• Another Gitmo Grows in Afghanistan


• Fearing Another Quagmire in Afghanistan


• In Afghanistan, Terrain Rivals Taliban as Enemy - Mountainous Region in East Especially Challenging


• NATO's New Colombian Adventure, in Afghanistan


• Taliban Fill NATO’s Big Gaps in Afghan South


• The Afghan Quagmire


• The Afghan Reconstruction Scam

Africa

• Somali insurgents advance after Ethiopian army withdraws


• Somalia: The Forgotten Front of the War on Terrorism


• Somalia Ruined: Intervention Fails Again

American-Israeli Relations

• Bringing the Arab-Israeli War Home


• Is Ehud's Poodle Acting Up?


• The Lobby Will Stand Down and Obama Will End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict


• U.S. man pleads guilty to acting as agent for Israel

Arabian Peninsula

• How billions in oil money spawned a global terrorism network


• Saudi Arabia: The Gathering Storm

Balkans

• Christian converts in Kosovo


• Lingering Security Concerns in Kosovo, as Imam Attacked by Islamists


• Lost in Conversion?

Iran

• Iran's Baha'is Leave Persecution Behind On Train To Turkey


• Who's Afraid of U.S.-Iran Détente?

Iraq

• 'Sons of Iraq' Retirement Accellerates


• In Iraq, the Day After


• Iraq Election Highlights Ascendancy of Sunni Tribes


• Trying to Redefine Role of U.S. Military in Iraq

Islam

• How a British jihadi saw the light


• Muslims Leaving Islam in Droves

Israel-Palestine

• A look at the Islamic militant Hamas group


• An Interview with Glenn Greenwald on the Gaza War


• Another War, Another Defeat


• Arab elites vs. Hamas


• Battered by Israel, Hamas faces tough choice


• Children of a Lesser Allah


• CNN Confirms Israel Broke Ceasefire First


• David Reef on Israel and Gaza


• Diplomacy Cannot Quell Gaza Violence


• Escape from Hamas, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 (YouTube videos)


• Fighter Sees His Paradise in Gaza's Pain


• Gaza rockets put Israel’s nuclear plant in battle zone


• Gazan doctor says death toll inflated


• Hamas After the Current Israeli Gaza Invasion


• Hamas history tied to Israel


• Hamas is not the IRA


• Hamas prefers war as an alternative to progress


• Hamas tried to hijack ambulances during Gaza war


• IDF uncovers booby-trapped school next to Gaza zoo


• In Gaza, Weighing Crimes and Ethics in Urban Warfare


• Iran warms Hamas not to accept truce


• Israel Doesn't Get Fourth-Generation War


• It's Overtime for Hamas' Leaders and Time for Them to Go


• Jordan's Intelligence Chief Sacked: New Policy Toward Hamas?


• Military Intelligence: Never expected Hamas victory in 2006


• Molten Lead in Gaza


• Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas leader, becomes a Christian


• Nizar Rayyan of Hamas on God's Hatred of Jews


• No Happy Ending


• Red Cross: Israel's use of white phosphorus not illegal


• Residents: Hamas Militants Staged Attacks from Cover of UN School


• Son of Hamas Leader Turns His Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity


• The Two-State Solution Now a Three-Way Stalemate


• The View from Tel Aviv

Nuclear Weapons

Swiss Release Man Held in Smuggling Case

Pakistan-India

• Book shines light on Pakistan military's '£10bn empire'


• Obama's Worst Pakistan Nightmare: What to Do About Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal


• Pakistan in Peril


• Race to the death over Kashmir waters

Southeast Asia

Secular Party Wins Landslide Victory in Bangladesh

Turkey

• Ergenekon Plot: Massive Trial in Turkey Provides Look into 'Deep State'


• Religious Kurds become key vote in Turkey


• The Duel in Islam: Turkey's New Model vs. Iran's

Illegal and Questionable U.S. Government Policies

• Guantanamo inmate tortured by al-Qaida and entombed by the U.S.


• How the Press, the Pentagon, and Even Human Rights Groups Sold Us an Army Field Manual that (Still) Sanctions Torture


• Justice After Bush: Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration


• More Groups Than Thought Monitored in Police Spying


• Obama's Justice nominees signal end of Bush counterterrorism tactics


• Portrait Emerges of Anthrax Suspect's Troubled Life


• Secret List of U.S. Military Bases to Replace Guantanamo


• Will Padilla's case be heard?

Uncategorized

• Overcoming ethnicity


• Some Christians Under Siege In 'Season Of Hope'

December 2008 Links

December 2008 Links

Afghanistan

• Afghan Farmer's Undercover Work Helps Convict Taliban Member in U.S. Court


• Afghan warlord Dostum is 'everyone's friend'


• Afghan women fear a retreat to dark days


• Afghanistan: Soviet failures echo for U.S.


• Afghans torn over family size


• As Taliban nears Kabul, shadow government takes hold


• In the lair of the Taliban


• Kabul residents have more fear of gangs than of Taliban


• Khyber Pass: Crucial for trade and invasion


• NATO's new supply line plans undermine human rights in Central Asia


• NATO reviews Afghan supply route


• Obama's Afghan Dilemma


• Obama's Afghan Escalation


• Pleas of Afghan ex-poppy farmers


• The Other Front


• Think Tank: Taliban has Permanent Presence in 72 Percent of Afghanistan


• Tribal leaders threaten to sabotage West's assault on Taliban


• U.S., NATO Seek Afghan Supply Routes Other Than Pakistan


• U.S. at disadvantage in Afghan insurgent hotbed


• West's Role in Afghanistan Needs Re-Examining


• What We Need to Do Now in Afghanistan


• Where the Taliban Get Their Money


• Who Are the Taliban?

Africa

• A Radical Islamist Takeover Drives the Young From Somalia


• As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God


• Rwanda: No Conspiracy, No Genocide Planning… No Genocide?


• Situation in Somalia Seems About to Get Worse


• Somali security forces desert, government vanishing: U.N.


• Somalis may be leaving Minnesota for jihad


• Somalia’s fractured government slides into chaos

Balkans

• Fears of New Ethnic Conflict in Bosnia


• Islamic Revival Tests Bosnia's Secular Cast

Canada

• Canada's Speech Impediment


• FGM in Canada


• Some tested Tasers fire stronger current than company says: CBC/Radio-Canada probe

Guantanamo Bay

• Guantanamo: the answer is easy


• Move May Help Shut Guantánamo Camp


• Torture, Preventive Detention, and the Terrorism Trials at Guantanamo

Iran

• 'Worst of Times for Iran': A Debate About the Claimed Threat Posed by Iran


• Iran: Past the Paranoia


• Iran Confronts an 'Economic Evolution': Ahmadinejad's Plan to Curb Government Subsidies Threatens to Alienate Recipients


• The Folly of Attacking Iran: Lessons from History (YouTube video)


• The Last of the Zoroastrians


• With oil prices falling, Iran's good times are almost over

Iraq

• 'Message Force Multipliers' and the Handmaidens of Hell


• A Hero of Our Time: Muntazar al-Zaidi


• Al-Zaidi may have been beaten for his outburst at George Bush, but Iraqi journalists are entitled to righteous indignation


• Babylon's history swept away in U.S. army sandbags


• Campaign Promises on Ending the War in Iraq Now Abandoned


• Christians crowd Baghdad church, but many families are divided


• Did the Shoe Thrower Hate America for Its Freedom and Values?


• Ethnic Divide in Iraqi City a Test for Nation


• I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq


• In Iraq, 'a Prison Full of Innocent Men'


• Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at Bush was then viciously beaten


• Iraqi Reporter Was Beaten After Throwing Shoes, Judge Admits


• Iraqi Women, Fighting for a Voice


• Maliki’s Secret Crackdown


• NBC and McCaffrey's coordinated responses to the New York Times story


• On Christmas, Iraq Christians eye uncertain future


• One Small Shoe for Man…


• Panel: Congress was misled on Iraq uranium issue


• President Bush and the Flying Shoes: A Cautionary Tale


• Songs for the Mahdi Army


• The Long Road Out of Iraq


• The Ongoing Disgrace of NBC News and Brian Williams


• They Lied About Iraq in 2003, and They're Still Lying Now


• Total Defeat for U.S. in Iraq


• U.S. group blasts Iraq over religious minorities


• U.S. worried about need for warrants in Iraq


• What are 'combat troops'? Iraq withdrawal depends on answer


• Widespread Female Circumcision Highlights the Plight of Kurdish Women

Islam

• Do Muslims Have More Children Than Other Women in Western Europe?


• From the left, a call to end the current Dutch notion of tolerance


• How to Understand Islam


• Islam's Challenges to 'Universal Human Rights'


• Lost in Translation: The two minds of Bernard Lewis


• Our followers 'must live in peace until strong enough to wage jihad'


• Spotlight on Egypt's marriage crisis


• Stop pandering to Muslims, says 'silent majority'


• Terrorism adviser to Scotland Yard is on wanted list


• The Defamation of Human Rights


• The Guidebook for Taking a Life


• The Jizyah Tax


• The Role of Consensus in the Contemporary Struggle for Islam


• The Zarqawi Generation


• What Is the Koran?


• Who Wrote the Koran?

Israel-Palestine

• Bush, Obama, and the Gaza Blitz


• Catastrophe for Gaza


• Did Israel Use 'Disproportionate Force' in Gaza?


• Gaza raids expose Israeli failure


• Israel's coming test for Obama


• Israel changed the rules forever with Gaza airstrike


• Israeli Settler Pogrom Against Palestinians


• Making Enemies: How Israel helped to create Hamas


• The far-right rises in Israeli politics


• Where are the rockets?

Lebanon

• Lebanon military weak despite gift of MiG 29s


• The London Review of Hezbollah

Pakistan-India

• Amid Taliban Rule, a NATO Supply Line Is Choked


• Are Mumbai attacks a chance for peace?


• Attacks increase fears of Peshawar’s fall to Taliban


• Best ways to react to India's 9/11


• Dancing girls of Lahore strike over 'Taliban' law


• Does Obama understand his biggest foreign-policy challenge?


• End of the Line for Islamabad


• Hoax phone call 'almost took Pakistan to war'


• India's options on Pakistan still open


• Jahiliyya Versus Jihad: Cusp of the Inferno


• Mumbai's Jews remain at one with Muslims despite anti-Semitic attack


• Mumbai Massacre May Sink Bush-Obama Strategy


• Mumbai Wake-Up Call


• Muslims in India Put Aside Grievances to Repudiate Terrorism


• Pakistan militants kill rival, bring fear to valley


• Pakistan police losing anti-militant fight


• Pakistan militant group builds web of Western recruits


• Schooling of a mountain jihadist


• The Meaning of Mumbai


• The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks: Is Pakistan to Blame?


• The Rationale of Terrorism


• This Fire Needs to Be Put Out


• Truckers stop NATO supplies


• Villagers confirm arrested Mumbai attacker is Pakistani


• War With India Would Unite Taliban, Pakistan


• What Happened in Mumbai


• Why Pakistan's military is gun shy

Russia and Its Neighbours

Estonia Spy Case Rattles Nerves at NATO

Syria

Syria's own 'war on terror'

U.S. Elections

• Clinton builds loyalist empire


• Gen. Hayden and The Claimed Irrelevance of Presidential Appointments


• Ron Paul, if only we listened

Illegal and Questionable U.S. Government Policies

• Cheney claims power to decide his public records


• Court sides with New York Times in anthrax libel case


• Dick Cheney's unique gift for making hard questions easy and vice versa


• Habeas Corpus Barely Saved


• Homeland Security: a multi-agency behemoth


• New York Times Wiretapping Source Revealed


• Obama should prosecute Bush officials who designed torture policy


• Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security


• Rumsfeld Responsible for Torture, Report Says


• Senate report links Bush to detainee homicides; media yawns


• Shoehorning the Bush Legacy


• Spying on Pacifists, Environmentalists, and Nuns


• The Fed Who Blew the Whistle


• The Nullification of the Bill of Rights


• What about the ghost prisoners?


• What Motivates the Torture Enablers?


• Why Do Feinstein and Wyden Sound Much Different on the Torture Issue Now?


• Will Obama Buy Torture-Lite?

War and Intervention

• A Team in Need of a Game Plan


• Humanitarian Imperialism: Obama and the Genocide Task Force


• Interview with Bill Barnwell: The merit of the 'Obama is the Antichrist' rumours, how American dispensationalists influence Middle East policy, the havoc created if a Third Temple were rebuilt in Israel, the wisdom of a historical-contextual reading of the Bible, and the conflict between militarist theology and Biblical scripture.


• Nuke Umbrellas


• Obama’s Choice of Hillary Clinton Signals He’s Not Anti-War


• Obama Chooses to Stay the Course on Foreign Policy


• One Thriving Sector: The Business of War


• Peace on Earth: Once a Year?


• Pentagon May Have Wrongly Mixed Propaganda With PR, Inspector General Says


• Right-Wingers and Neocons Love Obama's Cabinet Appointments


• Secret of the Lusitania: Arms find challenges Allied claims it was solely a passenger ship


• The Truce of God


• Where Have All the Neocons Gone?

Uncategorized

• Interview with Glenn Greenwald: Noam Chomsky’s theory of "concision" in the context of the limited parameters of discussion on television, the ease of spouting platitudes and the difficulty of challenging conventional wisdom by that medium, how the Georgian conflict highlighted the unwillingness of the mainstream media to challenge a false premise that has bipartisan support, and how Obama’s cabinet appointments were foreshadowed by his support for Joe Lieberman’s Senate candidacy.


• No Babies?


• War of the Babies--When Modern Warfare and Demography Square Off, Demography Wins

Afghanistan Links

Afghanistan Links

Afghanistan's History

• Afghanistan: At the Crossroads of Ancient Civilizations


• Afghanistan's Agony


• Assessing Afghanistan


• Unearthing Anguish in a Troubled Land

Drugs

• Afghan farmers find alternative to opium: marijuana


• Afghan opium fight hurts poorest


• Afghanistan: Addicted to Heroin


• Canada may be drawn into drug-eradication in Afghanistan


• Canada stays out of Afghan poppy eradication


• Cannabis Thrives in an Afghan Province


• Drug war, Taliban, poppies are all in full flower


• Grow opium or die: Afghan farmers say choice is stark (scroll down for article)


• Hooked on a Failing


• In Afghan Poppy Heartland, New Crops, Growing Danger


• Let Afghanistan Grow the World's Opium Supply


• Nations vow to tackle opium problem in Afghanistan


• No alternative to opium, say farmers


• Poppy paradox in Afghanistan


• Poverty feeds Afghan drugs trade


• Ruined poppy farmers join ranks with the Taliban


• Schweich, ICG, etc.--Assume the Existence of a State in Afghanistan


• The extraordinary folly of Britain's new opium war


• The perils of trying to uproot an opium economy


• The Taliban's Opium War


• U.S. fails to reduce Afghan opium crop


• Victorious warlords set to open the opium floodgates


• War on drugs strengthens Afghan mafia


• What Are They Smoking?

Fighting the Insurgentcy

• 'How We Lost the War We Won: A Journey into Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan'


• 'If it was jihad then, it's jihad now'


• 'The Taliban Are Terrorists'


• A Modernized Taliban Thrives in Afghanistan


• A Ragtag Pursuit of the Taliban


• Aaugh!


• A catalogue of errors in Afghanistan


• A heavy hand in Afghanistan


• Afghan loss equals terrorist win: ex-CIA analyst


• Afghan War Only Just Beginning, Security Group Warns


• Afghanistan: Time for Truth


• Afghanistan's insurgency spreading north


• An insurgency beyond the Taliban


• Are Theological Tensions Distancing Taliban from al-Qaida?


• As Taliban Influence Grows, 'Shadow Government' Seems an Increasingly Viable Option to Afghans


• Backlash from Afghan Civilian Deaths


• Britain's key weapon in Afghanistan: the bribe


• Britain's theatrical war against the Taliban


• British 'success' under siege in Afghanistan


• British plan to build training camp for Taliban defectors in Afghanistan


• Brutal U.S. Attack on Unarmed Afghans Captured by Photos


• Can tribes take on the Taliban?


• Civilian deaths from Western fire in Afghanistan could fuel support for Taliban


• Civilian Deaths Undermine War on Taliban


• Concerns Mounts Over Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan


• Crunch time coming in Afghanistan?


• Ex-Taliban Commander Lectures Mullah Omar About Koran


• Fatal errors in Afghanistan


• Fight Less, Win More


• Fighting a Hard, Half-Forgotten War


• For us ze war is over by tea time, ja


• From Great Game to Grand Bargain


• Hobbled in Kabul


• How COIN Generalists Fail Afghanistan


• In Afghanistan, a Do-Over Battle


• In Afghanistan, It's About Air Power, Too


• In the Land of the Taliban


• It's time to recalibrate Canada's mission


• Karzai: 'I Wish I Had the Taliban as My Soldiers'


• Majority of Afghan insurgents not Taliban


• Mistakes by Afghan Translators Endanger Lives, Hamper Western Effort


• NATO Confronts Surprisingly Fierce Taliban


• Pouring Gas on the Afghanistan Bonfire


• Pushtunwali: The Code that Governs the Lives of Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan


• Secrets of the Taliban's success


• Sending more troops to Afghanistan could backfire, experts warn


• Struggle to rein in Taliban in Afghanistan's south


• Taking the Fight to the Taliban


• Taliban control half of Afghanistan, says report


• Taliban Evolves into Network of Groups


• Taliban factions may be using British forces to assassinate rival commanders


• The Other War


• The Surge That Failed: Afghanistan Under the Bombs


• The Taliban Fedayeen: The World's Worst Suicide Bombers?


• Three warlords lead Afghan uprising


• Tribal militias enlisted to protect the south


• U.K. army's 'vacuum' bomb hits Taliban


• U.S. and Afghan government frustrated by Taliban's resilience


• U.S. losing the moral high ground


• U.S. Planes Bomb Afghanistan With $100 Bills and Photos of Bush


• U.S. Military Weighs Recruiting Afghan Tribes to Fight Taliban


• Why? Six years on from the invasion of Afghanistan


• Why Does the U.S. Think It Can Win in Afghanistan?


• Why the Neo-Taliban is Winning

Foreign Aid in Afghanistan

• Afghans Find Key Promises Unfulfilled


• Poorly-directed aid increases Afghanistan's woes


• U.N. to urge revamp of Afghan aid


• U.S. aid to Afghanistan falls short


• U.S. paid for media firm Afghans didn't want

Growing Support for the Taliban and Antipathy Toward the Foreigners

• Anti-Western feeling seen rising in Afghanistan (scroll down for article)


• As Crime Increases in Kabul, So Does Nostalgia for Taliban


• Hearts, Minds, and Body Bags: NATO Battles Rising Hostility in Afghanistan


• Poll: Afghans' Criticism of U.S. Efforts Rises; In the Southwest, Taliban Support Grows


• Taliban still a force in Afghanistan


• Taliban support rising in Afghanistan: study


• We want the Taliban back, say ordinary Afghans

Iran and Afghanistan

• Tensions mount between Iran, Afghanistan's Taliban in 1998


• The impact of U.S.-Iran enmity on Afghanistan

Pakistan-India-Afghanistan

• A Line Not to Be Crossed: The Afghan-Pakistan Border


• Ahmed Rashid on How the U.S. Aid to Ally Pakistan is Aiding the Taliban


• At Border, Signs of Pakistani Role in Taliban Surge


• Embassy Attack in Kabul Highlights Pakistan-India Rivalry


• From Pakistan, with jihad


• How the Taliban keep their coffers full


• In the Hiding Zone


• Inside the Pakistan-Taliban Relationship: Six Questions for Ahmed Rashid


• Insurgencies spreading in Pakistan and Afghanistan


• International strength of Taliban and al-Qaida threatens allied efforts


• ISI-Sponsored Attack on Indian Embassy in Kabul Boomerangs


• Killing ourselves in Afghanistan


• Losing Afghanistan


• Obama and the Taliban


• Obama is saying the wrong things about Afghanistan


• Pakistan, the Taliban, and the U.S.


• Pakistan cuts supply lines to NATO troops in Afghanistan


• Pakistan provided military aid, troops to Taliban


• Pakistan reopens supply lines to Western forces


• Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, U.S. Officials Say


• Pashtuns and Taliban in Two States


• Secret documents reveal U.S. concern about Pakistan's backing of Taliban before 9/11


• Side-Effects of the War in Afghanistan on the Pakistani State


• Taliban stage a coup of their own


• The 'War on Terrorism' Licenses a New Stupidity in Geopolitics


• The Getaway: Questions surround a secret Pakistani airlift


• U.S. Afghan supply lines depend on Islamist militant


• U.S. documents show Pakistan gave Taliban military aid


• What's Really Going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan


• Why Pakistan is unlikely to crack down on Islamic militants, despite U.S. pressure

Situation of Women and Children

• Afghan Girls, Back in the Shadows


• Afghan women seek death by fire


• Afghan Women Still in Chains Under Karzai


• Afghan women suffer daily violence


• Afghanistan: Behind the burqas


• Bush fails women in Afghanistan


• Don't look, don't tell, Canadian troops told


• Generation lost as Taliban target vulnerable schools in bandit region


• In Afghanistan, Rape Victims Begin To Break The Silence


• Interview with Female Afghan Parliamentarian Malalai Joya


• Marriage practice victimizes young girls, society


• Shh, It's an Open Secret: Warlords and Pedophilia


• The Afghan women jailed for being victims of rape


• The Schools the Taliban Won't Torch


• Women's lives worse than ever in Afghanistan


• Women Back Under Wraps with Taliban-Style Vice Squad

Talking to and Engaging with the Taliban?

• Afghan opposition courts Taliban


• Afghanistan pushes reconciliation effort


• European diplomats expelled 'at behest of the US'


• Karzai offers government role to Taliban


• Peace Talks Could be Win-Win for Afghan Government, Taliban


• Saudis Held Talks Between Taliban, Afghan Government


• Secret Taliban peace bid


• Taliban spokesman rejects Karzai's offer of talks


• Talk to Mullah Omar, if it saves British soldiers' lives


• The Afghanistan Advantage


• Time to talk peace with the Taliban?


• We can persuade Taliban to be peaceful, says expelled EU man


• Why it's so hard to negotiate with the Taliban


• Why the West thinks it is time to talk to the Taliban

The 'New Afghanistan'

• Afghan Absurdities


• Afghan Autopsy


• Afghan government failure reopens door to the Taliban


• Afghan lawmakers push cultural bans of Taliban era


• Afghanistan: Five Years Later


• Afghanistan: Just Another Bush Success Story


• Afghans' Uneasy Peace With Democracy


• Afghans Fed Up With Government and U.S.


• Afghans to Karzai: You failed us


• After U.S. $6 Billion, Where's an Afghan Cop When You Need One?


• Chaos in Afghanistan


• Consider Afghanistan Democratized


• Corruption, bribes and trafficking: a cancer that is engulfing Afghanistan


• Corruption eats away at Afghan government


• Disillusioned Afghans Seen Turning on Karzai


• Fear, Disillusion, and Despair


• Grim reality of life beyond Helmand


• Hopes and fears of Afghan Christians


• How Taliban sprang 450 insurgents from Kandahar's Sarposa prison in Afghanistan


• Hunkering Down in Afghanistan


• In Afghanistan, Anger in Parliament Grows as President Defies Majority's Wishes


• International Occupation Isn't Helping Afghanistan


• Kajaki dam: Contentious, costly, and a failure


• On the brink


• Post-Taliban Free Speech Blocked by Courts, Clerics


• Rahman in Retrospect


• Saving Afghanistan


• The day that changed Afghanistan


• The President Who Would Be King


• Where does Karzai go from here?


• Winning the Battle, Losing the Faith


• Women who took on the Taliban--and lost

The Dim Prospects for a NATO Victory

• Afghan war is unwinnable


• Afghanistan: A River Running Backward


• Afghanistan: Where Empires Go to Die


• Ashes of Empire


• British envoy says mission in Afghanistan is doomed, according to leaked memo


• Brits Say: West Can't Win in Afghanistan


• Could NATO lose in Afghanistan?


• Dear Jim


• Downhill in Afghanistan: The most remote place on Earth is now the most dangerous


• Europeans see what Americans cannot


• Fear battles hope on the road to Kandahar


• Fiddling While Afghanistan Slides Away


• How to Save Afghanistan


• Is NATO Losing the Real Battle in Afghanistan?


• Memo to Canada: Might won't win in Afghanistan


• NATO's Lost Cause


• NATO Needs an Exit Strategy in Afghanistan


• Rockets, guile, and the lessons of history: the Taliban besiege Kabul


• Russian veterans on Afghanistan war: 'impossible to win'


• Surging in Afghanistan: Too Much, Too Late?


• Taliban ambushes threaten Nato's vital logistics route into Afghanistan


• Taliban at Kabul's doorstep


• Taliban conflict 'cannot be won' in Afghanistan


• Taliban Gains in Afghanistan Due to U.S.-Led Policy, Study Says


• The Afghan fire looks set to spread, but there is a way out


• The Afghan mission: lessons from the past


• The Reality of War in Afghanistan


• The steady stream of maimed or killed soldiers is but one of many increasingly disturbing parallels between Afghanistan and the Vietnam War


• The Taliban's Baghdad Strategy


• The war that can bring neither peace nor freedom


• There is never going to be a NATO victory in Afghanistan


• Time to Face Facts in Afghanistan


• U.S. studies fear Afghanistan decline into terrorist haven


• We're losing in Afghanistan too


• Who are the Taliban? The question that is snaring NATO in tribal wars


• Why 'Victory' in First Phase of War on Terror Unravelled


• Why NATO cannot win the Afghan war


• Why NATO Troops Can't Deliver Peace in Afghanistan


• Will Military Rule Return to Pakistan--and Afghanistan--in a Year?

The Humanitarian-Economic Situation

• 'The new Afghanistan is a myth. It's time to go and get a job abroad'


• Afghan border province angry Kabul 'doesn't bother'


• Afghan Capital Mostly in the Dark


• Afghanistan Spiralling Back to Days of Taliban, Say Charities


• Campaign Against Taliban 'Causes Misery and Hunger'


• Gap between rich and poor widens in Afghanistan


• Harsh Winter Overwhelms Afghans


• In Kabul, Stark Gulf Between Wealthy Few and the Poor


• Severe drought and food price increases cause malnutrition and disease


• Unemployment slowly returns to Afghanistan

The Warlords

• Afghan amnesty shows warlord's clout


• Afghan Warlords, Formerly Backed By the CIA, Now Turn Their Guns On U.S. Troops


• Big fish among the Afghan warlords


• In Afghanistan, yesterday's warlords are today's bureaucrats


• In the shadow of the warlords


• Prosecutor Suggests 'Some People' Cannot Be Tried


• Rashid Dostum: The treacherous general

Treatment of Journalists and the Media

• A Young Life Hangs in the Balance in Afghanistan's Cultural War


• Afghan council wants soap operas off TV


• Afghan CTV journalist declared enemy combatant


• Afghan evils ignored at our peril


• Afghan journalism student sentenced to 20 years for insulting Islam


• Afghan journalist jailed for distributing Koran


• Afghan News Media Finds Foes on All Sides


• Afghan officials clamp down on the press


• Afghan reporter shocked by trial


• Afghan reporters: Between a rock and a hard place


• Freed Afghan journalist reunited with family


• Iranian Blogger Claims Article That Led to Death Sentence


• Journalist detained for reporting


• Lifeline for Pervez: Afghan Senate withdraws demand for death sentence


• Sentenced to Death: Afghan Who Dared to Read About Women's Rights

Treatment of Prisoners

• 'One huge U.S. jail'


• 'Worse' Than Guantanamo: U.S. Expands Secretive Prison Inside Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan


• Canada quietly halted transfer of Afghan detainees


• Secrets in the Mountains of Afghanistan


• See no evil?


• U.S.-run jail in Afghanistan 'worse than Guantanamo

(Broken links fixed 28-29 April 2010.)