War in Context

Al Qaeda bloggers’ sparring with Taliban could signal key differences
By Ron Synovitz, RFE/RL, March 12, 2008
An Internet-fueled squabble between Taliban leaders and influential Al-Qaeda sympathizers over nonviolent tactics and foreign influence in Afghanistan hints at deep disagreements that could alter counterinsurgency efforts in that country.
Islamic extremists who regularly post messages to a pro-Al-Qaeda website in […]

Calls grow for shift in Afghan policy
By David R. Sands, Washington Times, January 31, 2008
The Bush administration faces increasing pressure to make a major policy course correction on Afghanistan, shifting the focus from Iraq to fight a resurgent terrorist threat and build up the faltering government in Kabul.
A Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today is […]

U.S. plays matchmaker to Pakistan, Israel
By M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times, January 31, 2008
[A] geopolitical turbulence … is steadily enveloping the South Asian region. Much of the turbulence is being commonly attributed to the concerns of the international community over radical Islam and terrorism in the region or over the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons […]

In Kabul, shattered illusions
By Jean MacKenzie, New York Times, January 24, 2008
“Well, at least we’re not in Baghdad,” we used to say when confronted by the vagaries of the Kabul winter. No heat, sporadic electricity and growing disaffection among the population might make us uncomfortable, but those of us living outside the smothering embrace of […]

Taliban wield the ax ahead of new battle
By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times, January 24, 2008
With the Taliban’s spring offensive just months away, the Afghan front has been quiet as Taliban and al-Qaeda militants have been heavily engaged in fighting security forces in Pakistan’s tribal regions.
But now Taliban leader Mullah Omar has put his foot […]

Pakistan military retreats from Musharraf’s influence
By Tim Johnson, McClatchy, January 18, 2008
As President Pervez Musharraf grows more unpopular in Pakistan, his newly named successor as army chief is seeking to distance the institution from the Musharraf regime and pull back its virtual occupation of the top senior ranks of civilian ministries and state corporations.
Gen. Ashfaq […]

The West has not just repressed democracy. It has aided terror
By Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, January 9, 2008
The Pakistani senator gazed at the headline in despair. It read: “US weighs new covert push in Pakistan”. Washington was authorising “enhanced CIA activity” in the country while US Democratic candidates declared they were all ready “to launch […]

Next-gen Taliban
By Nicholas Schmidle, New York Times, January 6, 2008
The intelligence officer I met in Dera Ismail Khan, whose area of operations included the Taliban-ruled enclave of South Waziristan, maintains that his contacts with the militants were severed long ago. “We can hardly work there anymore,” he told me. “The Taliban suspect everyone of spying. […]

Diplomats expelled ‘at behest of the U.S.’
By Eleanor Mayne, The Telegraph, December 30, 2007
Two European diplomats accused of holding secret talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan were thrown out of the country following a complaint by the US, intelligence officials in Kabul have told The Sunday Telegraph.
Mervyn Patterson, who is British, and Irish-born Michael Semple […]

Bhutto aides question militant link to killing
AP, December 29, 2007
An Islamic militant group said Saturday it had no link to Benazir Bhutto’s killing and the opposition leader’s aides accused the government of a cover-up, disputing the official account of her death.
The government stood firmly by its account of Thursday’s assassination and insisted it needed no […]

Who killed Bhutto?
By Paul Woodward, War in Context, December 28, 2007
The fact that al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for assassinating Benazir Bhutto really means nothing. After all, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, al Qaeda’s liason to the Taliban, can be confident that the Pakistani government is not going to deny his claim. Indeed, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed […]

U.S. backs talks with Taliban as envoys expelled
By Tom Coghlan, The Telegraph, December 28, 2007
The United States ambassador to Kabul has lent his support to attempts to talk to elements of the Taliban as two Western diplomats left the country after being declared persona non grata by the Afghan government.
Michael Semple, the Irish-born acting head […]

Britain in secret talks with the Taliban
By Thomas Harding and Tom Coghlan, The Telegraph, December 26, 2007
Agents from MI6 entered secret talks with Taliban leaders despite Gordon Brown’s pledge that Britain would not negotiate with terrorists, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Officers from the Secret Intelligence Service staged discussions, known as “jirgas”, with senior insurgents on […]

Afghan mission is reviewed as concerns rise
By Thom Shanker and Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, December 16, 2007
Deeply concerned about the prospect of failure in Afghanistan, the Bush administration and NATO have begun three top-to-bottom reviews of the entire mission, from security and counterterrorism to political consolidation and economic development, according to American and […]

We will not negotiate with the Taliban, insists Brown
By Patrick Wintour and Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, December 13, 2007
Gordon Brown yesterday held out the hope that middle-ranking Taliban insurgents will renounce violence and join a political process of reconciliation with the Afghan leader, President Harmid Karzai.
The prime minister was setting out his long-awaited strategy for […]