injustice system
Chris Rogers
Monday, May 14, 2012
In March, the United States and Afghanistan announced that the U.S.-run
Bagram prison near Kabul will soon be handed over to Afghan control. It was a
major diplomatic breakthrough that paved the way for the signing
of a Strategic Partnership Agreement by President Obama and President Karzai on
May 2. But the agreement to handover Bagram is leading to a dramatic and
dangerous expansion of detention power in Afghanistan-and a potentially
disastrous legacy for the United States.
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good governance
Javid Ahmad
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The
next Afghan presidential election is currently slated for 2014, an uninspiring
prospect given the sky-high levels of corruption, nepotism, and patronage that
beleaguers the Afghan political system. To make things worse, President Hamid
Karzai has
suggested holding the elections in 2013 to avoid an overlap with the
planned end of NATO's combat mission. And there is still no functional plan in place
for a smooth transfer of political power to a post-Karzai government.
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environment of threat
Michael Kugelman
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Last month, an avalanche on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir
killed 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians. The tragedy has intensified
debate about the logic of stationing Pakistani and Indian troops on such
inhospitable terrain. And it has also brought attention to Pakistan's
environmental insecurity.
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Economics on the ground
Aisha Chowdhry
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Recent months have seen unprecedented progress on trade
relations between India and Pakistan. Last November, Pakistan granted
India "most favored nation" (MFN) status, fifteen years after India added
Pakistan to its MFN list. On April 13, India announced that it would allow
foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan. And on the same day, a historic integrated
checkpoint opened at the Attari-Wagah border crossing, which will allow
commercial traffic and trade to flow between the two countries.
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Convicted but not evicted
Reza Nasim Jan
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
On April 26, Pakistan's Supreme Court took the unprecedented
step of convicting Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt of
court. While the prime minister avoided a jail sentence, the conviction could
force him from the premiership, has ramifications on Pakistan's internal
political dynamics and could distract from the reconciliation process currently
underway with the United States.
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developing better aid strategies
Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
Friday, April 27, 2012
Since NATO's Lisbon summit in November
2010, debate has raged over the decision to draw-down troops from Afghanistan
by 2014. And in less than a month, NATO is to hold its 25th heads of
state summit in Chicago on 20th May. Unsurprisingly, among the summit's
major themes will be the seemingly intractable Afghan question, controversy over
which has continued with increasingly ferocious attacks by militants - the
synchronised 18-hour assault on Kabul on April 16 being an outstanding example
- along with persistently strained U.S.-Pakistani relations since NATO
airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November. But rather than
endlessly debating troop numbers - whose link to stability is at the least
exceedingly unclear - NATO allies would be better off focusing on how to
maximise the impact of programs which pave the way for long-term stability by dramatically
re-shifting the focus of aid funding from security to development.
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Jihad in the West
Raffaello Pantucci
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
This year, the United Kingdom hosts the Olympic Games, and
security services are on particularly high alert. Magnifying an already tense
environment, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and then al-Qaeda released
videos in the past few weeks, threatening the United Kingdom if convicted
jihadists serving sentences in the U.K. are not treated better. The TTP threatened,
"we will show them how we take revenge for the mistreatment of our brothers." Are
these just empty threats, or are they, in fact, causes for genuine concern for
British security services?
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Parliament takes a stand
Teresita C. Schaffer and Howard B. Schaffer
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Pakistan parliament has now completed its action on a
resolution defining the terms of reference for future Pakistan-U.S. relations,
adopting it without formal dissent. Action now passes to the Pakistani cabinet,
which must formally initiate discussions with the United States. All eyes will
be on how the U.S. and Pakistani governments negotiate the actual working of
this troubled relationship. The parliament's central role in this process
also tells us about some things that have changed - and some that have not -
in the way Pakistan's government institutions work,
both internally and with the United States. Both countries should take this
opportunity to revise their well-practiced negotiating tactics, which have
become a recipe for failure.
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Replenishing the top ranks
Christopher Anzalone
Friday, April 20, 2012
The
last two years have not been kind to al-Qaeda Central (AQC). U.S. drone strikes
over Pakistan's Pashtun tribal regions have decimated its leadership ranks,
killing a number of senior operational leaders and ideologues. These killings
have eroded the ability of AQC and the transnational Sunni jihadi current to
propagate its message. Despite these
losses, however, AQC still has a number of charismatic voices that it is able
to, and frequently does, deploy. One of
these is the group's chief juridical voice, Abu Yahya al-Libi. A second is the
Kuwaiti preacher Khalid bin ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Husaynan, a much lesser-known ideologue
who has played an increasingly prominent role in AQC's media productions since
his debut in an often comedic "quiet dialogue." This "dialogue" was actually a rhetorical
monologue aimed at U.S. president Barack Obama, released by the group's al-Sahab
Media Foundation in August 2009.
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Pakistan's Energy Woes
David Walters
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Pakistan warrants concern, and not just because it is
sitting on the fifth largest nuclear arsenal in the world. The country is in
the throes of a destabilizing and dangerous energy crisis. It faces gas shortages,
and electricity outages of up to 20 hours a day. As a result, factories have
been forced into closing. There is double-digit inflation. Infrastructure is
crumbling for want of resources. And harrowing stories of the newly
impoverished setting themselves on fire or resorting to crime have become the
new normal.
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Building the future
Wais Ahmad Barmak
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Afghan labourers take part in the construction of a bridge
at Barikowt, in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on April 3, 2009.
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Beyond victory
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
As
Sunday's spectacular
attack in Kabul showed, the war in Afghanistan may be winding down in
Washington, but it is heating up on the ground with spring's arrival.
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A primer on the epicenter of global terrorism.
