Diplomatic Bubbles: Why Afghans are so averse to ISI now?
Region: Afghanistan
Diplomatic Bubbles: Why Afghans are so averse to ISI now? Saeed Minhas Islamabad: As a stunned diplomatic community in Islamabad is looking at the knee jerk reactions of the politicians and finding the over-arching institution of the country licking its wounds after a humiliating month of May, things continue to shape up in and around Pakistan at an alarming pace seeking this nuclear state to not only answer som... more
Views: 1750Afghanistan: Can Americans complete a home run this time?
Region: Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Can Americans complete a home run this time? Diplomatic Bubbles Saeed Minhas Islamabad: As possibilities of new regional blocks, strategic and diplomatic alignments are shaping up in the world’s most focused Af-Pak region where India, China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia along with US and its European partners are digesting the new realities in a post Bin-Laden world, all e... more
Views: 1809Latest Afghan Attacks Highlight Challenges of Training, Vetting Afghan Security Forces
Region: AfghanistanBy Marian Wang, ProPublica The news out of Afghanistan seems to be almost all doom and gloom: 8 NATO soldiers and one civilian [1] were killed today by a veteran Afghan army pilot who reportedly turned on his trainers. The Taliban has claimed credit for the shooting, playing into fears of Taliban sleeper agents infiltrating Afghan security forces. Those fears have been stirred by a series of recent attacks ... more
Views: 1651Uneasy Truce Holds in Afghan Valley
Region: Afghanistan
Alasay district, in Kapisa province northeast of the Afghan capital Kabul, is the scene of an unusual arrangement where local government officials and the Taleban turn a blind eye to one another. Recognising that neither side can defeat the other, the two have effectively decided to coexist as peaceably as conditions will allow. Taleban guerrillas and government policemen, both armed, wander around the open-air marke... more
Views: 1494Pentagon: Terrorists recruiting juveniles and launching attacks against children
Region: Afghanistan“Approximately 40% of al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are composed of juveniles under the age of 18” Documents from the Obama Defense Department that reveal a deliberate campaign by al-Qaeda and other extremist (Islamic) groups to not only recruit juveniles and but to also launch terrorist attacks directly targeting children were obtained by a Washingto... more
Views: 1658Absence of Afghan justice fuels Taliban, al-Qaeda recruitment: U.K think-tank
Region: AfghanistanThe sidelining of justice by the Afghan government and its international backers is fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan and presents a serious strategic risk, claims a new report from the British international security think-tank Chatham House. The report -- written by Kate Clark and Stephen Carter -- which was published ahead of President Obama's statement on the review of the US war strategy i... more
Views: 2145Karzai's relative killed in security operation in Afghanistan
Region: AfghanistanA coalition security force shot and killed a relative of Afghan President Hamid Karzai at his home outside of Kandahar during a military operation last night. According to the Pentagon, the American-led troops mistook Karzai's cousin, Yar Muhammad Khan, for an enemy fighter during a raid. ''There were operations taking place near his house. Yar Muhammad Khan was killed by mistake. He was not a target," sa... more
Views: 1504Iranian Rockets Destined for Taliban Use
Region: AfghanistanKUBUL, AFGANISTAN--- The coalition forces in Afghanistan intercepted a large shipment of Iranian made rockets destined for use by the Taliban fighters. 48 122mm rockets were seized in the south western province of Nimroz that boarders Iran. The rockets have been linked to the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and according to officials in Afghanistan would have doubled the strike range capability of the Ta... more
Views: 1809Taliban Pose Rising Security Threat in Afghan North
Region: Afghanistan
Earlier this year, bus driver Ustad Toryalai was able to drive round the clock along the highway from Kabul to Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. The road, a key north-south supply route, was busy day and night with travellers, businessmen and international aid workers. For the past six months, however, Toryalai has not dared drive at night for fear of attack. Even during the day, he finds that many passe... more
Views: 1470Afghan Police Vs. Private Security Guards in Afghanistan
Region: Afghanistan
I spent almost three months in Afghanistan over the past summer. People, more than ever, had lost hope in government. Security was worse than it had been over the last 8 years. Parts of the country where I lived, where there had been no previous signs of the Taliban, had actually been attacked several times. The government was always was too late to respond. Often authorities also failed to investigat... more
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