Another crucial juncture
The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar has many idiosyncrasies. When he came to power, he did not live a single day in the President House in Kabul, but preferred to…
An indispensable relationship
Even after 30 years of conflict, there appears to be no end in sight to the war in Afghanistan. As the US begins its military withdrawal following Obama’s decision last…
Utterly inhuman
AS if the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui disappearance more than five years ago was not horrifying enough the discovery of her 12-year-old son in a Kabul prison has brought…
Afghanistan security not without the Taliban
Deteriorating security situation, continuing crisis of governance, the excessively limited writ of the Karzai government, the failure of any substantive breakthrough in the Kabul-Taliban dialogue, the continuing military capacity to…
What does Karzai want?
When I was in Kabul in the last week of November the main news was that President Hamid Karzai and his senior aides and political allies had a long meeting…
Challenges in Afghanistan
Bomb blast kills nine in Afghan south Bomb blast kills nine in Afghan south the well-planned assaults around the City Centre shopping complex and the Safi Landmark hotel in Kabul…
Journalism held hostage
In February, about 50 journalists who report from the tribal conflict zones of Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Kabul. They discussed issues related to war reporting and the need for…
The realistic route
The drawdown of American and coalition troops in Afghanistan has registered immediate effects on the country’s security and economic fronts. Not only have property prices come down in Kabul and…
‘No innocent civilians’
“We don’t do body counts,” Gen Tommy Franks, commander of the US Central Command, told reporters at Bagram Airbase near Kabul in 2002. He led the invasions of both Afghanistan…
Why peace eludes Afghanistan
There is a semblance of normalcy in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The battered roads now remain choked with traffic most parts of the day, with glitzy four-wheel drives and…
