Rethinking interests

Raul R. Pillar is probably right with his theory , that terrorists (foremost al-Qaeda) do not necessarily need Afghanistan as a safe haven to attack the US in future and that the presence of US troops in the area should not be justified with just this target – to eradicate such breeding places.

Pakistan’s role in current scenario

Mushahid Hussaind Syed and Gen. (r) Hameed Gul (former DG ISI) analyse Pakistan’s role in current changing scenario in the wake of US forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. Watch here [Urdu].

SufiLore #1 – Which way, Taliban?

Copying Tim Stevens’ (on ubiwar) and others’ concept of a material list provided continuously on stuff previously read or dealt with, I will start a regular material list, always on a specific topic, including a small number of links,  with one line each to underline the reason why I included it. The material will include [...]

Afghanistan: Transition to What?

Unfortunately they have Audio problems half way through. But what you can hear is well worth it. Especially the first part.
Michael Semple (is he really wearing Peshawari chappels there?) and Najam Sethi (one of European media’s darlings-trias when it comes to local commenters – Ahmed Rashid, Tariq Ali, Najam Sethi) are bringing in great points [...]

PBS Documentary/Obama’s War

As always – I was just about to Quit Firefox when on on my last scroll movement on Stephen Walt’s FP blog I stumble across a link to a new (to me) PBS Documentary on their AfPak Channel – Obamas War. Sit back and prepare to spend the rest of the evening watching and following [...]

It’s all about numbers and stats

A comprehensive overview over Afghanistan statistics related to insurgency/counterinsurgency activity from 2002 until 2008 by Anthony H. Cordesman from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
For more recent stats see especially the status report 2009.

The McChrystal Report – a link collection

The report by General Stanley McChrystal, date 30th of August.

These three articles in the Economist ask whether to “surge” or to go “surgical”, thereby presenting the two opposing parties when it comes to the future strategy in Afghanistan. While the one side, represented by Vice President Joe Biden, Obama’s security adviser James Jones and a [...]

The McChrystal Report – a summary

40.000 – from Kabul to Washington this number achieved media attention a number gets not that often (except maybe the Down Jones: 10.000 break through). 40.000 this is the speculated number of troops the new ISAF Commander General McChrystal wants to finally win the war in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s report on the situation in Afghanistan is [...]

Asia Society Task Force Report

In April this year the Asia Society published a Task Force report (led by Barnett Rubin and Thomas Pickering, the team including Ahmed Rashid and Peter Bergen among others) on the strategy the US administration should take on AfPak. It can be downloaded here.
The presentation of the report was recorded on video and included a [...]

Quest for the European Perspective – I

I have argued earlier, that the intellectual contribution from Europe on the AfPak situation was very limited. It is hard to find contributors to the ongoing discussions who

(a) have a profound insight and
(b) are publishing on a platform that is accessible via the net or newspapers/magazines.