Pursuing normalcy
The Nawaz government has been in power now for nearly two months. Rather unusually, the prime minister has kept the foreign ministry portfolio to himself, supposedly because it is too…
The times that await us
The seeds that we have sown, and some scattered by the howling winds. What will come of this? Of what shape the future when another foreign army, drinking from the…
Hardly a new chapter
If Mr Sartaj Aziz visited Afghanistan to convince Hamid Karzai of Pakistan’s sincere desire to improve relations and to work in tandem with Kabul to promote an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led reconciliation…
Uncertainty prevails
Predictably, an article in the New York Times stating that President Barack Obama was now seriously considering the option of retaining no troops in Afghanistan after 2014 has provoked reaction…
Sartaj and the Afghan crisis
The inane illusions of the Karzai regime and its habitual outbursts against Pakistan have become a source of laughter even to the philistine. This was again in evidence on Monday…
The roots of Afghan turmoil
The opening of a Taliban office in Doha last month kindled hopes of a negotiated end to the fighting in Afghanistan after decades of foreign invasions and civil war, which…
Pakistan’s recognition of the Taliban
For too long have the people of Afghanistan walked through the dreadful valley of despair. Tuesday’s attack by the Taliban near the presidential palace in Kabul portends an escalation of…
Taliban: 1, ‘Freedom’: 0
During pre-election debates in September last year, Obama said “We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over.” While the first clause was…
The pace picks up
Early last month, the American deputy secretary who led his country’s delegation to the US-Afghan bilateral commission meeting in Kabul said: “Afghan-led reconciliation is also central to the transition as…
Security handover holds challenges for Afghan forces
Afghanistan's security forces are braced for an uphill struggle as they take over lead responsibility for operations in the last remaining areas of the country, ahead of the withdrawal of…
