Feature / Analysis

International donors pledging $16B in Afghan aid

TOKYO :International donors will pledge $16 billion in aid for Afghanistan over the next four years in hopes of stabilizing the country after most foreign combat troops return home, a U.S. diplomat said Sunday, but the money will come with conditions to ensure it doesn't fall victim to rampant Afgha...

Afghanistan: how the US army battled it out with the British

In this extract from his latest book, Little America, Rajiv Chandrasekaran exposes the ways in which the supposed allies were at loggerheads when it came to strategy in Afghanistan American marines and British civilian advisers were waging two wars in the hilly northern half of Helmand province by ...

We Must Create New Bonds of Friendship with Pakistan

Though forced to flee from Lahore in August 1947, I do not have the slightest ill-will against Pakistan. On the contrary, I describe myself as a man of dual nationality. I am Indian as well as Pakistani. Although I no longer receive visitors from India or abroad, I make an exception in the case of P...

Catalysts for change

HAVE our writers and artists met the challenges posed by the 21st century? Have they played the role expected of them to promote human rights in our society?These were the questions posed to the participants of the Sindh Writers/Artists Convention organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan...

‘Diabetics can fast during Ramzan’

Depending on the geographical location and season, the duration of the daily fast also changes from 12 to 18 hours. With Ramzan round the corner, Muslims the world over are gearing up for month long fasting. But a good number, who are not in the pink of health, are caught on the horns of dilemma --...

The Long Roots of the NYPD Spying Program

The stories are as remarkable for their banality as for their detail.On February 8, 2006, the imam at a Bronx mosque advised congregants to boycott Danish products in response to caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish newspaper. In November 2006, a member of the Muslim Students As...

Timbuktu Tomb Destroyers Pulverize Islamic History

The al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters who have used pick-axes, shovels and hammers to shatter earthen tombs and shrines of local saints in Mali's fabled desert city of Timbuktu say they are defending the purity of their faith against idol worship.But historians say their campaign of destruction in t...

Radical Islam, Destruction of Shrines and Cultural Memory

It is no longer shocking to hear the news of desecration of local shrines by radical Islamists in the Malian town of Timbuktu. I say it is no longer shocking because sadly this is not an isolated incident. It is part of a general trend within radical Islam and has shown its ugly face from time to ti...

Bloodied Dreams, Wall of Silence

WE have made this Islamic Republic such a heaven on earth that we struggle to find words, often fight over these, to describe what its proud sons are capable of.Just two days ago, someone asked on Twitter why our Fourth Estate calls bloody attacks on the Shia-Hazaras in Quetta ‘sectarian violence’. ...

Al Qaeda Changing Global Strategy under Zawahiri

AYMAN al Zawahiri, the new leader of Al Qaeda, has started building deeper, direct and public ties with a plethora of regional Islamist terror outfits―a strategy that was not favored by his predecessor Osama bin Laden.In February, the Somali militant group Al Shabab announced its merger with A...

Will civil war hit Afghanistan when the U.S. leaves?

In the eleven years since the American invasion of Afghanistan, Abdul Nasir has become a modern and prosperous professional. A worldly man in his late thirties, he smokes Marlboros, drives a Toyota, and follows Spanish soccer, rooting for Barcelona. He works in Kabul as a producer for Khurshid TV, o...

New Afghan law ignites fear over shrinking press freedoms

KABUL: Afghan journalists are locked in a row with their government over media freedoms, in what appears to be the latest attempt by authorities to appeal to the more conservative side of society ahead of the pullout of most foreign troops. A revised media law looks to significantly tighten the go...

Pentagon Seeks More Afghan Surveillance Drones in Shift

The Pentagon is seeking congressional approval to shift as much as $641 million in funding for intelligence and surveillance to priorities such as expanding Afghanistan operations of a Boeing Co. (BA) drone for Navy commandos. The request for the “reprogramming” of previously approved military int...

Lack Of Electricity Dims Afghan Economic Prospects

Afghanistan desperately needs to jump-start its economy if it hopes to stand on its own after NATO's drawdown in 2014. But there's a major constraint for a country trying to build a modern economy: electricity shortages. Afghanistan ranks among the countries with the lowest electricity production ...

Violence in Afghanistan kills 148 in three days

KABUL: Up to 148 people including five NATO soldiers have been killed in insurgency-hit Afghanistan since Sunday morning. Taliban carried out an attack in the country's restive eastern region that left a NATO soldier dead on Tuesday, the military alliance confirmed. "An International Security As...

Afghan media freedom threatened: rights group

Hard-won media freedoms in Afghanistan are under serious threat from a draft law that is seen as a concession to Muslim conservatives ahead of NATO's exit in 2014, a rights group warned Tuesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Afghan government to withdraw the bill, which has been circulate...

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan army of rocket attacks

KABUL: Afghanistan accused Pakistan's army on Monday of launching months of rocket attacks on its territory and threatened to report Islamabad to the U.N. Security Council, straining already troubled ties between the neighbors. Kabul has regularly accused elements in Islamabad's government and arm...

Pakistan reopens supply routes into Afghanistan after Clinton says ‘sorry’

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday that Pakistan was reopening ground supply lines into neighboring Afghanistan after she apologized for the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO strike in November. "We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military," Clinton told...

Tax worth fighting for: Julia Gillard's carbon blitz begins

JULIA Gillard has likened carbon pricing to "divisive" past reforms such as Mabo and the GST, predicting voters will ultimately accept the tax, seen as crucial to the future of her leadership and Labor's electoral fortunes.Embarking on a two-week blitz to sell the tax, the Prime Minister declares in...

The Hazards of Coal Mining in India

NORTH KARANPURA, India – Digging up more coal has become a national priority for India as it tries to meet its electricity needs. But for the people who do it, like the miners in this hilly region of India’s eastern Jharkhand state, it’s a dangerous and potentially lethal assignment.The coalfields h...

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