Since she was appointed as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister in July of 2011, Hina Rabbani Khar has had to deal with the fallout from the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May, a deterioration in relations with …
Taliban
Pakistan Still Propping Up the Taliban, Alleges Secret NATO Report
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister must have really regretted getting on that flight to Kabul this morning. About the time Hina Rabbani Khar was winging her way over the Hindu Kush for a friendly visit to repair relations between the …
Sarkozy Considers Withdrawal from Afghanistan After Death of French Soldiers
Is the outraged French response to the shooting death of four of its forces in Afghanistan by a suspected Afghan soldier Friday a sign that Paris may speed the pull out of its troops from the NATO-led operation? Or is the …
Why the World Should Ignore the Presidential Campaign Foreign Policy Debates
As Republican presidential contenders prepare for yet another televised primary debate in South Carolina on Thursday, much of the world may be wondering who’ll be the next victim of some ignorant insult. Already, the GOP primary …
Can Pakistan’s Liberals Be Saved?
This week marked a year after the assassination of Pakistani politician and Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. On Jan. 4, 2011, a guard tasked to protect Taseer gunned him down, angered by the much-respected politico’s defense of …
Haunted by the Ghosts of Afghanistan, Libya Asks NATO to Stay On
The request by Libya’s Transitional National Council for NATO to continue its military mission in the country despite the overthrow and slaying of Col. Muammar Gaddafi is a reminder that Libya may have some things in common with Afghanistan circa January 2002. There, the Taliban had been routed and driven out of power by a …
The Afghanistan Drawdown: The Limits of American Power
Swampland’s Michael Crowley examines the politics and regional implications of President Obama’s announcement last night that the U.S. will withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next summer. While the decision might have been inevitable, many Republicans have already begun to call the president a ‘declinist.’ Crowley contends, …
The U.S. Is Spinning Its Wheels in Afghanistan, No Matter What Troop Levels Obama Maintains
President Obama will announce on Wednesday the size of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan that he will order in July in keeping with the symbolic drawdown he has promised. His top military men appear to want to keep most combat troops in the field for at least another two years; other advisers want the withdrawal to involve …
Afghanistan: A Taliban Offensive Hopes to Repeat Vietcong’s Tet Effect
“We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one,” former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once reflected on Vietnam. “We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. …
Could Bin Laden’s Death Speed The End To The Afghan War?
As accumulating press reports confirm, intelligence agencies, security officials, and independent experts around the globe agree the death of Osama Bin Laden in no way lowers the curtain on his al Qaeda organization, nor extinguishes the myriad radical groups and individuals sharing its ideology of international jihad. But if there’s …
Why Pakistan Is in No Mood to Back Down in U.S. Showdown
Raymond Davis, meet Aaron DeHaven. Davis is the U.S. diplomat — or alleged CIA contractor, depending on which account you believe — arraigned on murder charges in Lahore, with Pakistan thus far unmoved by his claim of diplomatic immunity following a shooting incident that left two Pakistanis dead. DeHaven is a security contractor …