Doing proper background checks to ascertain if recruits have Taliban affiliations is just one of the many challenges facing the U.S. and NATO as they prepare for withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014
Taliban
Why Afghanistan Isn’t a Campaign Issue: Neither Obama nor Romney Have a Solution
The ‘systemic problem’ of uniformed Afghans attacking their American mentors raises questions about the viability of a bipartisan exit plan
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Taliban Terror or Mass Hysteria: Who Is Poisoning Afghanistan’s Girls?
A recent spate of incidents in which dozens of girls have been forced from school, feeling sick, has set Afghanistan in a tizzy over what the source of the mysterious maladies may be.
The Taliban Halts Polio Vaccines—and Pakistan’s Kids Will Pay
In Pakistan’s tribal areas, anger over drones and suspicions over vaccinators disrupts an effort to eradicate a deadly disease
Must-Reads from Around the World, May 22, 2012
Summit Struggle – Ahead of Wednesday’s crunch E.U. summit, Der Spiegel reports that new French President François Hollande will pressure German Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to euro bonds, which she has so far strictly …
Obama’s Afghanistan Problem: Neither Karzai Nor the Taliban Like the ‘Reconciliation’ Script
President Barack Obama huddled with President Hamid Karzai in Chicago on Sunday, urging Afghanistan’s leader to accelerate negotiations with the Taliban over a political solution to the longest war in America’s history. But the …
“Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks.”
Obama’s Afghanistan Plan: Echoes of Vietnam in the U.S. Exit Strategy
To understand the historical significance of President Barack Obama’s visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday, imagine that President Richard Nixon had, in the spring of 1972, flown to Saigon to signal American voters that the Vietnam …
Must-Reads From Around the World: April 25, 2012
Must-Reads From Around the World: April 23, 2012
Withdrawal Symptoms – In a pact reached after a year of negotiations between the U.S. and Afghanistan, Washington promised military and financial support for a decade after its formal troop withdrawal from the country in 2014, …
Must-Reads from Around the World, April 19, 2012
Talks with the Taliban Are Inevitable, but Who Will Be at the Table?
The fact that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has told the Wall Street Journal he’s held three-way negotiations with the U.S. and the Taliban should come as no surprise: the U.S. has said that within two years it will end its …