Photo by Manal Madkhan
Afghanistan/Pakistan
War Crimes in Afghanistan: Protective Anonymity & Lives that Matter
Amanda Rogers* | 12 Jun 2013
(Photo credit: AP) Imagine the setting: A young British serviceman in Afghanistan happily mugs for the video camera, trading jokes and laughing with his fellow soldiers. Nothing unusual here: the grim theater of war, after all, necessitates moments of comic release. But, then, there is something out of the ordinary: a five-year old boy is sitting on the man’s...Afghan Civilians Casualties Weaken Support for Government
Mujib R Abid * | 31 May 2013
Casualties, whether caused by ISAF or militants, weaken government support. Coinciding with Afghanistan’s beautiful springtime weather, the annual fighting season between various groups is well underway. This year, however, the world will be watching to see whether Afghans, who have taken the lead in national security efforts throughout most of the country,...Interview with Afghan Rock Band Kabul Dreams
Fiona Shukri* | 6 May 2013
Siddique Ahmed and Sulyman Qardash of Afghan rock band Kabul Dreams. (Photo credit: Ahmad Reshad) Kabul-based rock band Kabul Dreams celebrated the release of their first full-length CD “Plastic Words” on April 22 at the French Cultural Center in Kabul. Over 400 people—a mix of Afghan and international fans—attended the concert event. Sulyman...To Assess U.S. Drone Policies We Must Listen to More Farea al-Muslimis
Noor Mir & Rooj Alwazir* | 25 Apr 2013
Farea Al-Muslimi (Photo credit: Farea Al-Muslimi) We are not here to proffer an analysis. We are not academics. We are here as a Pakistani and a Yemeni, as activists, as citizens of this country and as citizens of our homelands. We are dismayed. We are confused. But we are not hopeless. On April 23, 2013, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution,...Hazara Protest Pakistan Government Failure to Prevent, Prosecute Killings
G. Abbas Wafa* | 5 Apr 2013
Afghans protest in Kabul’s Abdul Ali Mazari Square. More than 200 ethnic Hazaras were killed in two bomb blasts over a period of one and half months in Quetta, Pakistan. In the first attack, members of the underground Sunni militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), detonated bombs at a snooker hall on Alamdar Road in a Hazara enclave on January 10, killing...Hunger Strikes at Guantanamo Bay: Geometry of “Asymmetric Warfare”
Amanda Rogers* | 5 Jun 2013
Photo credit: http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/Freedom-Guantanamo-Bay.jpg In the wake of the brutal slaughter in Woolwich, London, debates surrounding the term “terrorism” have reemerged,...Cultures of Violence: Woolwich, Jodi Arias & the Market Value of Atrocity
Amanda Rogers* | 28 May 2013
A young boy hangs a cross near flowers close to the scene where Drummer Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was killed, on May 24, 2013 in London, England. (Photo credit: Dan Kitwood) Always...Why Drone Attacks Should Be Banned
Mahboobullah Iltaf* | 29 Apr 2013
(Photo credit: AP) These days global military powers, like the United States, typically fight wars not through direct combat with other countries or groups but more through technological strikes designed to eliminate...Margaret Thatcher & Her Dictator Friends
Nima Shirazi* | 11 Apr 2013
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher died Monday, April 8, 2013, at the age of 87. Predictably, there is no dearth of hagiographic profiles of the former British Prime Minister in the mainstream press and scathing...The U.S. Invasion of Iraq: Strategic Consequences for Iran
Muhammad Sahimi* | 19 Mar 2013
Iraq was invaded on March 19, 2003. To sell their war, neoconservatives in the United States – the main driving force behind the invasion – intentionally deceived the American public. Had they declared...
