Osama’s Irrelevance — The Taliban won’t miss bin Laden, observes Julius Cavendish in a dispatch from Kabul. The goals of Afghanistan’s insurgency are national, and even many Taliban leaders resented al-Qaeda’s presence on their turf.
Pots and Kettles — In an interview with the Atlantic, Hilary Clinton lashes out at China, calling the country’s rights record “deplorable,” reports Austin Ramzy. “They’re worried, and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool’s errand. They cannot do it. But they’re going to hold it off as long as possible.”
Annals of Immigration — Canada’s crime rate is dropping as the number of immigrants to the country increases. “Could it be that immigrants are making us all safer?” asks the Walrus.
Ways of War— On Global Spin, TIME’s Tony Karon looks at the “guerrilla logic” behind the rapid uptick in violence in Afghanistan this spring. For the Taliban, he writes, winning “is simply a matter of not losing.”
Pakistani Paradox — Elizabeth Rubin has a must-read piece on U.S.-Pakistani relations. “Osama bin Laden’s death in a mansion in exclusive club house territory of retired Pakistani officers has exposed the terrible paradox at the heart of our war in Afghanistan—Pakistan’s hypocrisy and our acquiescence,” she says.
‘Gay Girl in Damascus’— Inspiring the Syrian protest movement is an honest and reflective voice of the revolution: a half-American citizen journalist who, in illustrating her country’s plight, risks death herself, writes Jenny Wilson for NewsFeed.
Whose Revolution? —Do the Greens speak for Iran’s women? Certainly not all women, argues a Sevda Zenjanli for insideIRAN.
In Pictures— Light Box marks the start of an epic photographic road trip: Five photographers, a writer, two weeks and a bus. Stay tuned.