Jul 02, 2011 By: Halimullah Kousary A poll conducted between December 2010 and February 2011 by the BBC World Service in 24 countries around the world concluded that 40% of the 24,000 people support NATO negotiations with the Taliban. Moreover, 16% of respondents surveyed supported immediate withdrawal of the NATO forces and 29% supported continued
Jul 02, 2011 Hrishiraj Bhattacharjee If states are known by the enemies they have, then Pakistan has largely been known by the very country it seeks to avoid: India. Ahmed M. Quraishi. The India-Pakistan conflict is one of the most enduring rivalries of the post-World War era. Thus far, it has witnessed three wars, one
Jul 02, 2011 Sayed Maisam Wahidi Afghanistan has a bloody history. It remained subjected to invasion by world powers starting from Alexandra the great to the British Empire and then the Soviet Union in pursuit of their economic and strategic interests. Afghanistan also tried to ally with various world powers to defend against interference by
Mar 19, 2011 Afghanistan's government may want to bring the Taliban back into the fold, but not all Afghans support this strategy. On March 28, the Federal District Court in Washington, DC, will hear a case on behalf of Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former high-ranking Taliban official who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the
January 2011 Naweed Barikzai With the passage of every day, as the security situation becomes more volatile in Afghanistan, international forces in coordination with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are all set to start a series of operations against the Taliban in southern provinces where the insurgency is most active. Thus, Helmand province is
January 2011 Sayed Maisam Wahidi At the heart of the ‘Transition by 2014’ debate, by when Afghans are supposed to take over the complete responsibility of defending their country, there lies a greater cause of concern or dilemma regarding the prevalent corruption in Afghanistan. And also, how this corruption is negating the various gains made
January 2011 Hrishiraj Bhattacharjee Recently for Afghanistan, all is not quiet on the western front; courtesy of its western neighbour Iran. From early December 2010, Iran began to stop Afghan bound fuel trucks at the Iranian side of the Afghan-Iran border. Various reports suggested that more than 2000 such trucks have been blocked by the
November 2010 Naweed Barikzai The elections for 249 seats of the Lower House (Wolesi Jirga) of the Afghan Parliament were conducted on 18th September, 2010. The constitution of Afghanistan states that “[An] Independent Electoral Commission will be established to organize and supervise any election and to hold a referendum within the country based on the
November 2010 Sayed Maisam Wahidi Transition or “Inteqal” is a new phenomenon in the literature of security and development in Afghanistan. It is the time for Afghans to take over responsibilities of providing security and rebuilding their country since the time has come for foreign troops to start reducing its footprint in Afghanistan. Therefore,
November 2010 Hrishiraj Bhattacharjee ‘I want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public ... [and] hopefully [my action shall start] worldwide discussions, debates and reforms.’ - Private Bradley Manning, alleged source of Wikileaks for US embassy cables. Perhaps it is too early