Released detainees talk about life during and after their unlawful detention in the video Justice Denied: Voices from Guantánamo which is part of an ACLU initiative against the practice of detention without due process that violates fundamental principles of American justice. (Previously)
posted by gman on Nov 5, 2009 - 7 comments

The number of refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking asylum in Europe continues to grow. Recently, despite criticism from the UN, deportations have begun. Most of those on a recent flight to Iraq were forced to return to the UK (the nationalities of some remains unclear, as does their fate). Furthermore, the move to deport has meant denying that Iraq and Afghanistan are each in a state of war.
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 on Oct 24, 2009 - 23 comments

On a reporting trip to Afghanistan in November of 2008, New York Times reporter David Rohde and two of his colleagues were kidnapped by the Taliban. After being held captive for seven months in the mountains of Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan, David and one of his colleagues escaped in the middle of the night and made their way to freedom. He recounts the story in a five part series: Held by the Taliban. [more inside]
posted by Merik on Oct 21, 2009 - 22 comments

Frontline in Afghanistan
In a war that has lasted eight years, what is the way forward now? [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Oct 15, 2009 - 52 comments

43 photographs of Afghanistan provide a striking sense of personal identity to a conflict that is often remote and abstract.
posted by gallois on Oct 1, 2009 - 22 comments

"I am researching the extraordinary history of the West's relationship to Afghanistan over the past 200 years. It is a very complex, and sometimes weird, story. These are notes on some of the characters and episodes involved." A work in progress by Adam Curtis - Kabul: City Number One. Part One, and Part Two.
posted by robself on Sep 28, 2009 - 5 comments

Free Range International on Afghanistan: "What to Do?" Part 1 and 2 [more inside]
posted by Burhanistan on Sep 27, 2009 - 9 comments

"Meet the Afghan Army: Is It a Figment of Washington's Imagination?"
posted by Joe Beese on Sep 21, 2009 - 55 comments

Afghan Lessons Learned for Soldiers - a collection of musings on life as a soldier in Afghanistan. [more inside]
posted by Burhanistan on Sep 19, 2009 - 13 comments

We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.
posted by Joe Beese on Sep 12, 2009 - 58 comments

"It is a scene from which many of us would naturally recoil, or at least avert our eyes: a grievously injured young man, fallen on a rough patch of earth; his open-mouthed and unseeing stare registering — who can know what? — horror or fear or shock; being tended desperately by two companions in what are the first moments of the final hours of his life."
The New York Times' Lens Blog explores the circumstances and consequences of the Associated Press releasing Julie Jacobsen's photo depicting Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard after he was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush. [more inside]
posted by heeeraldo on Sep 4, 2009 - 131 comments

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan is guarded by gross perverts. (Photos!)
posted by Optimus Chyme on Sep 1, 2009 - 103 comments

An Afghan Reconstruction Horror Story A sad look at the lack of progress in reforming Afghanistan's infrastructure.
posted by reenum on Aug 25, 2009 - 9 comments

Some recent photographs by the renowned photojournalist Emilio Morenatti, Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 2009, who recently lost his foot in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Aug 14, 2009 - 19 comments

Should the United States and Nato stay in Afghanistan? Andrew Bacevich wrote an article in commonweal saying that it is not and that the question has been insufficiently debated. Andrew Exum (A former US Army Captain, now researcher who blogs as Abu Muqawama out of the Center for a New American Security) quickly responded to Bacevich saying that the issue has been carefully debated, pointing to a Stephen Biddle article entitled Is It Worth It? as an example. As MeFi's may appreciate, the comments section of that post vigorously debated the point and an Exum has started an ongoing dialog at the abu Muqawama site. Resolved, day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5.
posted by shothotbot on Aug 12, 2009 - 30 comments

With inadequate access to basic health care (WHO .doc summary), impoverished Afghans turn to cheap and available opium as 'medicine' for pain relief, cough suppression and other ailments. The level of addiction among children is at a critical level. Jawed Taiman's film Addicted in Afghanistan provides some further perspective. [more inside]
posted by uaudio on Aug 11, 2009 - 35 comments

Tariq Ali writes in the LRB: - This is now Obama’s war. He campaigned to send more troops into Afghanistan and to extend the war, if necessary, into Pakistan. These pledges are now being fulfilled. On the day he publicly expressed his sadness at the death of a young Iranian woman caught up in the repression in Tehran, US drones killed 60 people in Pakistan.
Tariq Ali discusses the views of Graham Fuller an ex CIA Kabul station chief who thinks Obama's Policies are Making the Situation Worse in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The further view from Asia is that Pakistan wields a double-edged sword and that although the Pakistan-US plan are falling into place the militants, too, have their mechanisms in place, and they don't plan to deviate. A mighty collision is inevitable.
Meanwhile Kalashnikov demand soars.
posted by adamvasco on Jul 28, 2009 - 91 comments

Exit wounds: - It is the poet's obligation, wrote Plato, to bear witness. With the official inquiry into Iraq imminent and the war in Afghanistan returning dead teenagers; Carol Duffy, recently elected UK Poet Laureate invited a range of her fellow poets to bear witness, each in their own way, to these matters of war. More about the poets inside: [more inside]
posted by adamvasco on Jul 25, 2009 - 13 comments

Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read but I write this knowing every time you thinks shits got to much for you to handle (so don't cry on it MUM!!) you can read this and hopefully it will help you all get through. For a start SHIT I got hit!! .... As Im writing this letter I can see you all crying and mornin my death but if I could have one wish in an "after life" it would be to stop your crying and continueing your dreams (as I did) because if I were watching only that would brake my heart.

How to win in Afghanistan? Peter Bergen looks at the capability of the Taliban insurgents, NATO troops, and the Afghan army and police, compares the current conflict to the Soviet invasion, and weighs the dangers of civilian casualties and popular support. He concludes that renewed American effort in the fight will "produce a relatively stable and prosperous Central Asian state." (via Matthew Yglesias)
posted by Pants! on Jul 16, 2009 - 45 comments

As Wootton Bassett gathers for a solemn ritual that is all too familiar in a very British way of mourning; the question being asked is: Exactly what are we fighting for?. Afgahnistan is not a popular war in Britain, (as also noted in an editorial in The Nation ).
It is graveyard of good intent; (extract then pdf downloadable)................ The Irresistible Illusion where the infamous General Dostum has now been invited to join the government of Hamid Karzai.
posted by adamvasco on Jul 14, 2009 - 24 comments

Jeremy Scahill talked with Bill Moyers recently about the continued role and increasing centrality of private military contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of military drones, and other issues related to these two ongoing wars. [more inside]
posted by ornate insect on Jun 6, 2009 - 10 comments

Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military.
posted by chunking express on May 29, 2009 - 91 comments

Waiting for a New Day: Scenes from Afghan life in wartime.
posted by homunculus on May 28, 2009 - 2 comments

While the President is under The Pressure of an Expanding War; appointing Stanley McChrystal; the general from the dark side; some vets ask about Afghanistan "What was I fighting for?" suggesting that the $94.2 billion supplemental war-funding bill "will be a complete waste of taxpayer dollars, as we continue to pursue a military solution for a political problem"; and that America should Rethink Afghanistan. ( previously: all three videos are up now ). Last October British commander Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith warned that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won. ( related )
posted by adamvasco on May 23, 2009 - 26 comments

The U.S. replaces the top General in Afghanistan after he'd held his post for less than a year. General McKiernan is being replaced by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who came under some criticism in the past for the treatment of detainees by his Special Operations forces under his command. He is credited with the death of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in 2006, and the Obama administrations hopes he will bring unconventional thinking to the use of force in Afghanistan. He is already working on some new ideas in military civilian collaboration, but does he play poker? Will he embrace the population-centered warfare approach? Will this General, a prominent figure in Bush's war on terror, be an effective tool in the use of Smart Power, or just make matters worse?
posted by cal71 on May 11, 2009 - 61 comments

Khanzir is the only pig in Afghanistan. An already lonely existence has been made sadder as fears of swine-flu have caused zoo officials to place him in quarantine, depriving him of contact with his best friend - a nearby goat.
posted by grapefruitmoon on May 8, 2009 - 40 comments

Evangelical Christian soldiers on the march for Jesus in Afghanistan. SLYT
posted by zerobyproxy on May 4, 2009 - 53 comments

Louie Palu is a Canadian Photojournalist. His series, Goodbye, Guantánamo, is up for some big awards.
posted by chunking express on Apr 30, 2009 - 9 comments

What is the logical consequence of noting the fact that the terrorist groups that make a difference on planet Earth—such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the PLO, Colombia's FARC—are extensions of, respectively, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and Venezuela? It is the negation of the U.S. government's favorite axiom. It means that when George W. Bush spoke, and when Barack Obama speaks, of America being "at war" against "extremism" or "extremists" they are either being stupid or acting stupid to avoid dealing with the nasty fact that many governments wage indirect warfare.

Fox News, keeping it classy, recently aired a comedy segment ridiculing the Canadian military's efforts in Afghanistan. On the overnight programme, host Greg Gutfeld and friends joked about Canada's plan to pull out troops in 2011 to "do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants." He also suggested invading Canada seeing as how they "have no real army", and mocked the last name of one of the Canadian generals as being unmasculine. [more inside]
posted by spoobnooble on Mar 24, 2009 - 138 comments

They call themselves Visual Journalists. Prime among them is the Bombay Flying Club, a group of photo-journalists who are using the latest web and flash technologies to frame their online news gathering and documentary storytelling. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Mar 1, 2009 - 19 comments

Wikileaks cracks NATO's Master Narrative for Afghanistan
Wikileaks has cracked the encryption to a key document relating to the war in Afghanistan. The document, titled "NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative", details the "story" NATO representatives are to give to, and to avoid giving to, journalists. [more inside]
posted by Mwongozi on Feb 27, 2009 - 36 comments

Combat Outpost. "As US and the UK forces struggle for a way forward in Afghanistan, John D McHugh's unique film from one of the US military's most dangerous outposts shows just how western forces are losing ground to the Taliban." Where are Afghanistan's missing millions? "Clancy Chassay hears charges of corruption levelled against the UN and aid agencies after millions earmarked for a Kabul hospital disappear."
posted by homunculus on Feb 19, 2009 - 21 comments

On the Militant Trail [Most recent of four articles with links to preceding pieces] Renowned Asia Times correspondent Syed Saleem Shahzad visits Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province and takes a journey with the Taliban through the Swat valley. His four-part series of articles examines the differing natures and strategies of various Taliban groups, describes a government counter-insurgency campaign gone seriously awry and finds indications that "a major battle will be fought in Pakistan before the annual spring offensive even begins in Afghanistan this year."
posted by Abiezer on Feb 6, 2009 - 15 comments

Kyrgyzstan is to close a key US military airbase which is a key staging post for coalition troops into Afghanistan. This is probably a question of money, as Kyrgyzstan is facing a looming energy crisis.
As predicted the "great game" continues, with Russia playing a tricky game.
First soften up your 'mark' with a cyber attack.
As a result Afghan supply routes now face setbacks.
posted by adamvasco on Feb 4, 2009 - 18 comments

Army reports highest rate of soldier suicides for three decades in 2008. [more inside]
posted by batmonkey on Jan 29, 2009 - 20 comments

Skateistan is Afghanistan's first dedicated co-educational skateboarding school.
posted by gman on Jan 28, 2009 - 15 comments

Pakistan in Peril. "The relative calm in Iraq in recent months, combined with the drama of the US elections, has managed to distract attention from the catastrophe that is rapidly overwhelming Western interests in the part of the world that always should have been the focus of America's response to September 11: the al-Qaeda and Taliban heartlands on either side of the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan." [Via]
posted by homunculus on Jan 21, 2009 - 30 comments

Sergeant Pen Farthing of the Royal Marines likes dogs. [more inside]
posted by Dipsomaniac on Jan 18, 2009 - 10 comments

An Australian soldier has been awarded the Victoria Cross for his involvement in an action in Afghanistan.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Jan 15, 2009 - 59 comments

"Six days after the inauguration of President Obama, the U.S. is scheduled to begin the first trial of a child soldier accused of war crimes since World War II." via ACLU [more inside]
posted by ageispolis on Jan 15, 2009 - 34 comments

Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory , an online exhibit of comtemporary textiles created (mostly) by women living in war zones.
posted by Miko on Jan 9, 2009 - 4 comments

Paula Loyd, a 36 year old anthropologist and US Army reservist, is the third social scientist to be killed within the last 8 months while working for the US Army's controversial Human Terrain System project in Afghanistan. [more inside]
posted by fourcheesemac on Jan 9, 2009 - 63 comments

The sections of britishbattles.com about The First Afghan War have apparently been quoted verbatim in Al-Qaeda propaganda. Site author, amateur historian John Mackenzie, told the press "It's exactly appropriate to use the account of the first Afghan war to point out the pointlessness of the current operations and the dangers that they run of a similar disaster," [more inside]
posted by nthdegx on Jan 1, 2009 - 17 comments

"At an age at which I should be putting on a wedding dress, I am asking for someone's eyes to be dripped with acid,"

Four years ago, a spurned suitor poured a bucket of sulfuric acid over [Ameneh Bahrami's] head, leaving her blind and disfigured. Late last month, an Iranian court ordered that five drops of the same chemical be placed in each of her attacker's eyes, acceding to Bahrami's demand that he be punished according to a principle in Islamic jurisprudence that allows a victim to seek retribution for a crime. The sentence has not yet been carried out.

The little blue pill goes to war.
posted by mek on Dec 26, 2008 - 74 comments

Poppy For Medicine. "America's drug war in Afghanistan has been a miserable failure. So why not legalize opium production and let Afghanistan become the Saudi Arabia of morphine?"
posted by homunculus on Dec 21, 2008 - 57 comments

The Archipelago of Fear. "International surveys show that the more people trust their neighbours, strangers, and their government, the more likely they are to help strangers, to vote, and to volunteer. If better streets, sidewalks, walls, and buildings all improve the ways people engage with one another, then the reverse should also be true: antagonistic architecture can corrode trust and fuel hostility. Kabul just might be a laboratory of toxic urbanity."
posted by homunculus on Dec 5, 2008 - 20 comments

In 2009, a remarkably gifted politician, confronting a remarkably difficult set of challenges, will have to learn to say "No we can't", Guantánamo will prove a moral minefield, economic recovery will be invisible to the naked eye, governments must prepare for the day they stop financial guarantees, we will judge our commitment to sustainability, scientists should research the causes of religion, we will all be potential online paparazzi, English will have more words than any other language (but it's meaningless), Afghanistan will see a surge of Western (read: American) troops, Iran will continue its nuclear quest while diplomacy lies in shambles, the sea floor is the new frontier, we should rethink aging, (non-)voters will continue to thwart the European project -- but cheap travel will continue to buoy it -- though it has some unfinished business to attend to, and a Nordic defence bond will blossom.

The Economist: The World in 2009. [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Nov 27, 2008 - 31 comments