‘Wilful’ surrender
Abandoned. Deserted. Gone with the wind. That is what the anguished visuals show. A US Air Force plane taking off with people hanging on its wheels and falling off midair…
Countering the TTP
The Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was formed in 2007 in response to the army’s action against non-state actors in north and south Waziristan. After the US invasion of Afghanistan…
Once upon a Taliban
THE war in Afghanistan is over. Pakistan won. No amount of hand wringing in Western capitals can change this hard reality. For now, at least. The post-victory battle however is…
Profiteers of war
As the competing European colonizers became dependent on tobacco revenue, Napoleon III is known to have quipped, “This vice brings in one hundred million francs in taxes each year. I…
A tragic mistake?
The Associated Press reports that the survivors of family members killed in a US hellfire missile strike on a civilian vehicle after US troops and Afghan evacuees were killed at…
Soviet memories (Part – V)
In early 1988, when I was back in Moscow from Odessa, Ukraine, Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo visited the Soviet capital. Ajmal Khattak was already there. Both were curious to know…
Gone at last
THE final American military flight out of Hamid Karzai International Airport took off a day before the scheduled Aug 31 deadline, symbolically ending what has been described as the United…
Lessons from the end of the Afghan war
War is beyond the question of jus ad bellum and jus in bello. It involves risks and consequences beyond the conflict boundaries. The aftermath of war is usually horrendous. Whether…
Chaotic exodus
The incompetence of America’s confused and chaotic exodus from Afghanistan, despite the Aug 31 deadline to get out, came as an unwelcome surprise and threatened to undermine the majority of…
The challenges ahead
PRESIDENT Joe Biden has announced that all US troops will be unconditionally withdrawn from Afghanistan by Sept 11. He has also stated that the US will continue to support the…
