Most Australians now oppose the conflict in Afghanistan. Yet, perversely, its very unpopularity has led to less rather than more public debate about the war.
Taliban
Should we leave Afghanistan?
The war in Afghanistan is now the single longest US armed conflict in history, and it’s not showing any signs of settling down. Leslie H. Gelb talks about President Obama’s dilemma and why the Taliban can not be defeated.
Understanding the enemy in Afghanistan
A new generation of US commanders in Afghanistan have stopped trying to kill their way to victory, and are now forming strategic alliances with local warlords. Meet a local leader who hates the US — and may just be its best hope.
Abandoning Afghanistan’s women
Women in Afghanistan are most at risk of oppression under Taliban rule. The US used the status of women as a reason to rebuild Afghanistan, but now both Karzai and the US military are ignoring their plight.
Peace in Afghanistan: high hopes but low expectations
The Afghan Peace Jirga — a meeting of tribal leaders and politicians in Kabul to discuss peace and how to rid the country of the Taliban — is beset by worries about control from “foreigners and infidels”, primarily Washington.
Taliban tries to hijack the Times Square bomb
The Pakistani Taliban has released videos attempting to claim the car bomb in Times Square, New York as its work. But it’s all bluff, claim experts. The Taliban doesn’t have that much power in the US.
How Pakistan double-crossed the US in Afghanistan
According to US intelligence officials, Pakistan’s intelligence agency has been secretly releasing captured senior Afghani Taliban members right under the American military’s nose.
The “ruthless warlord” who could save the US in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is a “vicious, brutal, devious” warlord says Newsweek — but he may just be the only person on the country powerful enough to oppose the Taliban.
Iraqi police: a $6-billion black hole
The US has invested $6 billion into training Iraq’s police force — yet most are barely trained, can’t operate on their own, and the organisation is rife with corruption.
A tale of two Taliban leaders
Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul and Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef were both former Taliban commanders who were held in Guantanamo. But after they were released, one immediately took up arms and rejoined the insurgency to enact revenge, while the other became a politician and author.
Terror white paper: shiny new language, same old laws
The counter-terrorism white paper issued today is long overdue and foreshadows a welcome shift in discourse on terrorism, writes Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
Taliban leader captured: an AfPak game changer?
Today’s big news from the AfPak frontlines is that the deputy leader of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured by American and Pakistani forces. Will this finally bring the Taliban to the negotiating table? asks The Economist.
War criminal to hero … a dangerous precedent
A campaign of assassination of local leaders thought to be loyal to the Taliban contains an obvious potential for human rights abuses, especially since it’s almost impossible for the media to monitor what undercover troops actually do.
Congressman Charlie Wilson’s war is finally over
Charlie Wilson, former US congressman, died overnight. His name would hardly ring a bell if it not for the 2007 film Charlie Wilson’s War, which dramatised his role in promoting US support for the anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Future Afghan government will include Taliban
Nine years of bloodshed and death, and billions upon billions of dollars spent on the Afghanistan occupation, we are facing negotiations on significantly worse terms than before the war began.
Inside the gun markets of Pakistan
Vice journalist Suroosh Alvi visits “the most dangerous place in the world” — a massive open-air gun market in Pakistan’s tribal area, where members of the Taliban and jihadists go to buy their firearms.
Afghanistan: at least the Taliban don’t try to fleece you
Corruption is so costly and endemic in Afghanistan that the country’s poor are even turning to the Taliban as an alternative government that will not fleece them of their meagre incomes.
How the US military funds the Taliban
Afghanistan is beset by immense corruption, with US contracts going to Afghan subcontractors, whom then have to give cash to the Taliban in extortion fees. Douglas Wissing explains the futile political attempts to stop it.
Pakistan’s martyrs and the image problems of suicide bombers
How long can we delude ourselves that doing this will improve the lives of ordinary Pakistanis when we prop up those who oppress them?, asks Benjamin Gilmour.
The Taliban doesn’t want your help, Western jihadists
Thinking of running away to join the Taliban? Apparently it’s not that easy — the Taliban doesn’t need Westerners, who are only good as “cannon fodder”, preferring local recruits, who already know the land and language and look the part.
What if we fail in Afghanistan?
It’s time to start asking: what happens if the US and its allies can’t prevent the Afghani Taliban from taking control of the country and restoring a second Islamic Emirate? Steve Coll explores some hypothetical outcomes (spoiler: none of them are good).
The Taliban grows more powerful than Al Qaeda
The power balance between the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan has flipped, with the latter’s numbers dwindling to fewer than 100 members in the country. Some Taliban factions are now shunning the terrorist group in an effort to win over local civilians.
Afghanistan: Karzai wins. What now?
It’s over: Hamid Karzai has been declared the winner of Afghanistan’s Presidential election by default. After such a failure of democracy, what does it all mean for the future of Afghanistan and the war? Five experts weigh in.
We outnumber the Taliban 12:1. Why aren’t we winning?
There are about 172,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with a 200,000-strong local force, fighting no more than 25,000 Taliban rebels. Yet more allied soldiers are dying than ever before. Is it finally time to “cut and run”?
