Is the Pentagon funding the Taliban?A US military aid program in Afghanistan that ensures local businesses score all contracts on projects and procurement is filtering money directly into the Taliban’s hands, says Jean MacKenzie. The Pentagon knows, but its hands are tied.
Taliban
Don’t quit your day job: the Taliban’s weekend warriors
An increasing number of Afghanistan’s urban white-collar workers are taking up a new weekend hobby, and it’s not golf. During the day, they sit behind a desk pushing papers, but come the weekend, they travel back to their hometowns to fight for the Taliban.
An Afghan warlord’s journey from friend to foe
Former mayor of Herat, Afghanistan, Ghulam Yahya, once battled the Taliban alongside Western troops — now he sides with the Taliban, participating in bombings and kidnappings. His defection reflects the increasing frustration and hostility Afghanis are feeling towards foreign forces.
Taking on the Taliban mafia
Extortion, kidnapping, narcotics and protection rackets are funding the Taliban’s fight in Afghanistan, and the more aid and construction work undertaken in the country, the more it profits. Foreign troops aren’t fighting an army — they’re fighting an organised crime syndicate.
The Taliban: the real winner in Afghanistan
Both sides may be claiming victory in Afghanistan’s recent elections, but the real winner is the Taliban, who successfully suppressed voter turnout and garnered international media attention, says Leslie H. Gelb.
Taliban cut off voters’ fingers
The Taliban has made good in its threat the cut off the in-stained fingers of voters in the Afghanistan elections, with two voters in the Kandahar region reportedly having their fingers chopped off by insurgents.
Crikey wrap: Afghans head to the polls
Afghanis headed to the polls on Thursday amidst fears of violent attacks from Islamist Taliban forces, writes Crikey intern Emily Finlay.
Why the Afghanistan election will change nothing
The Afghanistan election is essentially meaningless, because the president serves as a puppet of democracy and the Taliban will still have the real control of the country, writes Thomas P.M. Barnett.
Taliban affects Afghan elections
Voter turnout for the Afghanistan election may have been as low as 10% in regional areas and 26 people were killed in Taliban attacks, but officials were satisfied with the turnout and have deemed the election a success.
Live-blogging the Afghan election
Foreign Policy live-blog the Afghanistan election, with updates from regional centres and videos of vote counting.
We took our eyes off Afghanistan
The media should stop fixating on the political conflict and focus on long term policy and systems in Afghanistan — not as headline grabbing, but more important for Australia’s future, writes Greg Sheridan.
The vote must go on
Strong voter turnout in Afghanistan is vital if the country is to achieve political stability and legitimacy, says expert Ahmed Rashid, but fears of reprisals by the Taliban could prove fatal for the country’s democratic dreams.
Taliban out to destroy elections
Afghanistan’s elections are looking increasingly tumultuous, with reports of the Taliban beating voters, corruption and vote buying. It is feared that low voter turnout will affect the legitimacy of the Afghan government.
Afghanistan: are assassinations the only answer?
When the military draws up its death lists, how does it distinguish between civilian and military targets? Should drug traffickers be put on the assassination list?
Taliban’s top man: dead or alive?
Conflicting reports abound on whether Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and his second in charge have been killed in Pakistan, as the struggle for power continues between Taliban factions.
Trained for terror: the Taliban’s brainwashed boys
CNN meet a group of Pakistani boys who say they were kidnapped by the Taliban and groomed as suicide bombers. Rescued by the army, a team of psychologists are attempting to bring them back from the brink of brainwashing and repair their shattered lives.
The Taliban’s new nightmare
The Taliban’s leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has been AWOL for three years now, effectively leaving his number two, Mullah Baradar, in charge — a man Newsweek says “may be more dangerous than Omar ever was”.
Afghanistan: a mess wrapped in a blood-soaked riddle
Pro-war pundits contrast the theocratic rule of the Taliban circa 2000 with an Afghan future that exists only in their imagination, neatly ignoring the real Afghanistan that the war has brought into being, writes Jeff Sparrow.
Cricket takes on the Taliban
Pakistan’s Twenty20 World Cup cricket win has given a monumental boost to a nation drained of all morale, says Tunku Varadarajan. Can the sport offer an alternative vision for the country to militant Islam?
Double standards: the media on Taliban kidnappings
Are the hundreds of people kidnapped by the Taliban each year any less deserving of media black out protection than western journalists like David Rohde?
Journalists’ amazing flight from the Taliban
After seven months being detained by the Taliban, NYT reporter David Rohde and Afghan journalist Tahir Luddin escaped their captors, aided by a rope they’d hidden and a game of draughts.
Welcome to Pakistan: one suicide bombing a week and counting!
In Darra Adam Khel, an arms-manufacturing town south of Peshawar where a stick of dynamite can be bought for less than an dollar, young men are queuing up for suicide bombings, writes Benjamin Gilmour.
Obama can undo the damage Bush did to US-Iran relationship
Iranians have a chance to vote against the confrontational path of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The US can help them make that choice, says Shahram Akbarzadeh.
India must save Pakistan from itself
New Delhi needs to urgently help shore up the civilian government in Islamabad, says Jug Suraiya. And what better way than by finally converting the Line of Control in Kashmir into an officially recognised international border?
Taliban warns Pakistanis, then detonates four bombs
Three bombs detonated in Peshawar, north of Pakistan’s capital, and one in Dera Ismail Khan, in the country’s troubled west on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens.
