The collapse of the Dutch government over The Netherlands’ role in Afghanistan is being seen by some pundits as a chance for Geert Wilders to enter a future coalition government.
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thabet
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thabet
Jeremy Scahill on the ‘expanding US war in Pakistan’.
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thabet
Stephen Walt thinks Tony Blair’s appearance at the Chilcot inquiry vindicates the basis of the book he co-authored with John Mearsheimer, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.
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thabet
A killer above the law?
Nor is it surprising that the Ministry of Defence responds to the news with bland assurances that every effort is made to ensure that drones are used in compliance with the laws of war. There are “no reports” of civilian casualties, the ministry adds. If taken at face value, these are heartening assurances. But they also illustrate the heart of the problem: the use of killer drones is shrouded in secrecy, and the accountability mechanisms that apply to regular warfare are simply absent.
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thabet
Not finking straight:
@Dannythefink (who rarely shows much ‘finking’) proves that when you’re a down and out warmongering bastard, just invoke Munich, 1940, Hitler and Churchill.
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thabet
Britain’s Israel Lobby:
Watch it on YouTube.
As an aside, it’s funny how some British Muslims seem to like Dispatches all of a sudden…
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thabet
A very interesting documentary by Rageh Omaar at Al-Jazeera about America’s ‘new frontline’ in the war on terror, which was opened in Africa when the Bush administration decided to topple the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia.
Omaar, Somali-born and a former BBC reporter, travelled the width of Africa from the Horn of Africa, crossing the pan-Sahel region, through to oil-rich West Africa. The documentary pins the blame directly on the Bush administration for the current troubles in Somalia, and for letting poor countries of the Sahel region use the war on terror as a cover to violently suppress localised problems (e.g. the Tuareg in Niger).
Omaar asks whether Barack Obama can or will change course by ending his documentary in Cameroon, contrasting the earlier positive moves (e.g. Obama’s support for a Somali politician ousted by the Bush-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia), with the negative activities such as the training received by a special forces group belonging to the Cameroonian president-dictator.
Unsurprisingly, there are lots of comments by those interviewed, including some local activists, that the US is only interested in resources of these states — the Sahel region has significant deposits of uranium, and West Africa has lots of oil and gas.
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thabet
An interesting argument for why Muslim nations should take up the task of helping Afghanistan:
The solution? Muslim and regional states must fill the void.
Emirati, Jordanian and Turkish troops have been in Afghanistan, though in small numbers and doing very limited roles.
The author, Arif Rafiq, continues to the meat of his argument:
The Organization of the Islamic Conference, the association of more than four dozen Muslim states, should set up an Afghanistan contact group, led by Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The group would lead a coalition of Muslim states responsible for political reconciliation, peacekeeping, economic development, and governmental capacity building in Afghanistan.
I like the idea of the Organization of the Islamic Conference do something other than bleating about ‘Islamophobia in Europe’, though it is unlikely to happen.
And just as some would like the US to admit to its mistakes in Muslim countries, it would be good if Muslim countries which have a dubious foreign policy of their own could admit to some of their mistakes; especially Pakistan and Saudi Arabia with respect to Afghanistan. Though, again, I wouldn’t advise holding my breath waiting for that to occur.
It’s a nice idea by Rafiq. On paper at least.
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thabet
Taliban ‘increases fourfold’ according to US report:
Are these all ‘ideological Taliban’? No:
Some of the major insurgent groups, including one responsible for a spate of recent American casualties, actually opposed the Taliban’s harsh Islamic government in Afghanistan during the 1990s, according to the reports, described by US officials under the condition they not be identified.
“Ninety percent is a tribal, localized insurgency,’’ said one US intelligence official in Washington who helped draft the assessments. “Ten percent are hardcore ideologues fighting for the Taliban.”
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thabet
Turkey and Armenia sign ‘historic accord’:
Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, and Edward Nalbandian, his Armenian counterpart signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich on Saturday, after last-minute disagreements delayed the ceremony for three hours.
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thabet
Afghan Taliban say they do not pose a threat to the West:
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thabet
Barack Obama says he will not cut troop numbers in Afghanistan.
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thabet
Former head of the British Army says the government turned down a request for more soldiers:
General Sir Richard Dannatt said that a call for 2,000 extra troops was rejected earlier this year, since when the Taleban have stepped up attacks in Helmand province, where another British soldiers was killed yesterday, the 220th since the US-led invasion of 2001.
I’m sure Dannatt is relishing the chance to make Labour look stupid, given reports that the government tried to ’smear’ in the past.
Meanwhile, the current head of the army (also backing calls for more troops) issued an alarmist warning about Pakistan being taken over by al-Qaida and the Taliban if the West ‘loses’ in Afghanistan.
I don’t think NATO will end up ‘losing’ in Afghanistan, anymore than it will end up ‘winning’. There’s going to be a lot of ‘muddling along‘ for years to come. Perhaps all Barack Obama and his allies can do is satisfice.
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thabet
Surprised this didn’t get linked to before on Talk Islam: Wajahat Ali’s article on the ’say-do’ divide in American foreign policy, including comments from some familiar names.
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thabet
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence ‘insists’ it backs the US efforts to work with Afghan president.
You can take that with whatever amount of salt you require. Especially, if you consider Ahmed Rashid’s claim in The New York Review of Books:
In short, the strategy of the Pakistani military to selectively use Islamic extremists both as a tool in its foreign policy arsenal against India and to gain influence in Afghanistan is not going to change in a hurry. The Obama administration’s main strategy for the moment is hand-holding—it wants to keep engaging with the Pakistani leaders to try to get them to change course. At least one senior US official arrives in Islamabad every other week to argue the American case.
Rashid’s claim of an attack on Waziristan taking months may not be true, if these reports are true:
It quotes senior military and security officials as saying that the army would launch what it called “the mother of all battles” in the coming days.
“If we don’t take the battle to them, they will bring the battle to us,” it quotes a senior military official as saying of the militants. “The epicentre of the behemoth called the Taliban lies in South Waziristan, and this is where we will be fighting the toughest of all battles.”
Which I suppose means, the Pakistanis, having suffered at the hands of the Pakistani Taliban groups and their allies (it has lost around 2,000 men chasing al-Qaida et al) has decided it needs to be rid of these groups — or perhaps bring them back under control?
Other, more ’specialised’ jihadi groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, meanwhile, remain under complete control…
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thabet
Why do we persist with the fiction of ‘our’ own Afghan policy, when: a. we will just do what the US does; and b. what we do turns out to be a waste of time, effort, resources, and above all lives?
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thabet
Senior American diplomat in Afghanistan ‘fired’ for his views on Afghan election fraud:
He can’t go around questioning the anointment of the new ’son of a bitch’, now can he…
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thabet
Buried at the end of this dire warning from Nick Carter, the general who will soon take charge of British soldiers in Afghanistan, is the following, very interesting, comment:
Maybe this was a throwaway comment, but it looks an acknowledgement that those fighting foreign troops are not just wide-eyed ideological Taliban, but any number of different people, who need to be convinced that the new Afghan democratic regime is better for them.
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thabet
I think the damage was done in the 1980s:
The background to this is claims that Saudi Arabia has assured Pervez Musharraf that he will not face a trial for violating Pakistan’s constitution. Britain and the US have also been accused of helping Musharraf avoid charges. (Would they really want to? I doubt it.)
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aziz
foreign policy “realists” write a letter to President Obama about Afghanistan. I am really creeped out by the similarity in name (only, hopefully) to realpolitik. The last thing the world needs is Kissinger redux.
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thabet
Fareed Zakaria, the desi Tom Friedman.
Is that an insult to Zakaria or Friedman?
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thabet
Not particularly good news from Afghanistan over the last few days….
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thabet
I’ve been reading about the Dhofar Insurgency recently, and will soon be reading an account by a former member of the Special Air Service (SAS) who fought for the Omani sultanate against a number of different (leftist) rebel groups. I found the book on sale in Muscat, so I expect it to be sympathetic to the sultanate (the current sultan overthrew his father during the course of the insurgency).
The Dhofar Insurgency doesn’t seem to attract much attention, but does have some interesting parallels with other conflicts. British involvement in Oman’s internal affairs, which dates back to the 1860s, increased in the 1950s during the Jebel Akhdar War and (later) the Dhofar Insurgency; here’s the Wikipedia entry on the Dhofar campaign:
The [British] military commanders on the ground [...] suggested the implementation of a Hearts and Minds campaign, which would be put into operation primarily by a troop (25 men) from the SAS. The [British] government (then under Conservative leader Edward Heath) supported this unconventional approach to the counterinsurgency campaign. It approved the deployment of 20 personnel of the British Royal Engineers, who would aid in the construction of schools and health centres, and drill wells for the population of Dhofar. A Royal Air Force medical team would also operate out of Salalah hospital, in order to open a humanitarian front in the conflict [...] The British government additionally provided monetary support for the creation of the Dhofar Development Programme, whose aim was to wrest support from the PFLOAG through the modernisation of Dhofar.
Sounds somewhat familiar doesn’t it?
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thabet
From AfPak to YemSom:
It is worth bearing mind that the International Crisis Group (see Source Watch profile) are champions of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine.
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thabet
Britain, France and Germany call for a new Afghanistan
(exit) planconference:In the wake of the the second presidential election in Afghanistan, Germany’s Chancellor Merkel said she would like to create some momentum in that country. “Now we are coming to a transitional phase,” she said.
I wonder if the Europeans told their American counterpart about this
(exit) planconference before announcing it to the world… -
thabet
Eric Joyce, serving as a parliamentary private secretary to the defence secretary, resigns over the Afghanistan war, taking a swipe at other European countries.
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thabet
Afghanistan: the new Vietnam… or the new Afghanistan?
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thabet
Why are people surprised at this revelation?
This is hardly a out of character for New Labour:
The papers reveal how Blair put enormous pressure on Lord Goldsmith, his attorney-general, to force him to put an end to the embarrassing investigation into a huge Saudi arms deal.
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thabet
The US will investigate whether USAID is ending up in the hands of warlords, criminals or Taliban fighters as a form of protection against attacks on various infrastructure projects.
Anecdotal evidence collected by one reporter suggest a significant portion of money being handed out for projects ends up being used this way.
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thabet
Gordon Brown comes up with an old new Afghan strategy, although I don’t see why we bother with the fiction of ‘our’ Afghan strategy since we just do what the US does anyway (as explained by Gideon Rachman).
Rachman also notes an odd but interesting fact:
I visited Kabul in 2008, the head of ISAF was an American general called Dan McNeill. He wanted more troops as well. McNeill, McKiernan, McChrystal. Plus ca change…
Hattrick.
