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
Naweed Barikzai October 2010 Operation Dragon Strike is the most important battle of the Afg han war thus far. At least 8,000 U.S. soldiers are involved in this massive new offensive. The aim is to strike right at the heart of Taliban territory, in the province of Kandahar, Afghanistan. In the past few weeks, NATO
Mariam Safi October, 2010 Western countries are ostensibly eager to keep Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Amir-ul-Momineen (Commander of the Faithful) of the Taliban movement out of peace talks with the Afghan government. But is this a realistic approach, or at the very least, a viable strategy? Looking at the structure of the insurgency it seems
Sayed.M.Wahidi October, 2010 Efforts to improve the security situation and support Afghan institutions has taken place in Afghanistan as the country begins to confront the challenges of a deteriorating security situation, lack of rule of law, corruption and the cultivation and exporting of narcotics. President Obama’s Af-PAK strategy and his withdrawal time-table for July 2011
Oct 16, 2010 A report on civilian casualties, published by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) evaluates civilian casualties in the first six months of 2010. The report shows that civilian causalities are 21 percent higher than last year and contrary to popular belief this rise is a result of insurgent-related attacks rather
Oct 16, 2010 On 26th July 2010, Wikileaks raised the curtain on 90,000 classified military documents pertaining to the Afghan War. Wikileaks exposed documents on battlefield and intelligence reports that had been compiled by different military units from January 2004 to December 2009. This huge cache of military files revealed a devastating portrait of the