Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan - by Jeremy Scahill [via]
posted by Burhanistan on Nov 24, 2009 - 58 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

Children of the Taliban. [more inside]
posted by gman on May 17, 2009 - 38 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

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

From Great Game to Grand Bargain. "The crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan is beyond the point where more troops will help. U.S. strategy must be to seek compromise with insurgents while addressing regional rivalries and insecurities." A new piece in Foreign Affairs by Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid. [Via]
posted by homunculus on Oct 28, 2008 - 35 comments

Right at the Edge. "The Taliban and Al Qaeda have established a haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border. This is where the war on terror wil be fought – and possibly lost."
posted by homunculus on Sep 5, 2008 - 62 comments

Pakistan’s Phantom Border. "Pakistan is often called the most dangerous country on earth. Increasingly, its people would agree. Despite nearly $6 billion in U.S. military aid for the border region since 9/11, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and homegrown terrorist groups have eroded the border with Afghanistan, inflicting a steady toll of suicide bombings. Going where few Westerners dare—from Taliban strongholds to undercover-police headquarters—the author sees what’s tearing the country apart."
posted by homunculus on Jun 22, 2008 - 24 comments

"I" is for "Infidel" "Associated Press and New Yorker [Q&A] writer Kathy Gannon delivers an intimately observed history of Afghanistan from 1986 to the present. The longest-serving Western journalist in the region, Gannon overturns simplistic understanding of the country's politics in this eye-opening talk." [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha on Nov 14, 2006 - 17 comments

"Newly declassified US intelligence documents say Pakistan helped Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group to start its operations in Afghanistan in the 1990s and even secretly ran a major terrorist training camp." The declassified documents were obtained and posted as "The Taliban File" by the National Security Archive, and describe the closeness of al Qaeda and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) before the later lost control. [Via the Agonist and Juan Cole.] [More inside.]
posted by homunculus on Sep 14, 2003 - 16 comments

"They went to Afghanistan to fight Americans, and they ended up fighting their fellow Muslims" A backlash is rising against religious leaders in Pakistan who sent youths to their deaths with the fervor of jihad. As the Afghan Taliban supporters defect to the victorious rebels, Pakistani and other foreign Taliban fighters are left to die in the trenches in a war that is not theirs against an enemy different from the one they hate.
posted by mischief on Dec 3, 2001 - 13 comments

Trouble for Pakistan? It looks like the Pakistanis have really managed to piss of their Afghan neighbors with their imperialist ambitions. The foreigners who so eagerly rushed to help the Taliban are getting shot for their troubles, some have wised up and are refusing to surrender. Should we be trying to stop such behavior, or is this a case of If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen?
posted by jaek on Nov 16, 2001 - 2 comments

Most lawmakers want bin Laden dead. Is that a good idea, or should he have a public trial if captured? Also, Pakistan dismisses the idea that bin Laden has crossed over and hiding there somewhere. Given the strong support he and the Taliban have in Pakistan, would they turn him over if he is there?
posted by Rastafari on Nov 16, 2001 - 20 comments

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry says that the evidence against Al Qaeda is convincing. The Taliban say that even if they were given convincing evidence, they still wouldn't give up bin Laden.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Oct 4, 2001 - 15 comments

The Taliban's Bravest Opponents (via Salon) article/interview about the women's underground movement in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
posted by Irontom on Oct 2, 2001 - 23 comments

Taliban miraculously finds bin Laden! Afghan authorities have delivered a message to Osama bin Laden advising him of a decision by the country's clerics recommending that he leave Afghanistan voluntarily, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan said Thursday.
posted by madreblu on Sep 27, 2001 - 14 comments

Troops Massing on Afghanistan/Pakistan Border: 20,000+ Taliban troops and an unreported number of Pakistani reinforcements have been deployed in anticipation of a Pakistan-based U.S. strike.
posted by ryanshepard on Sep 17, 2001 - 11 comments

Pakistan, Taliban forces take up positions: Tension mounts at border
This is what I feared the first time I heard of Taleban. People trained to be fighters in their teenage, do not know of any thing else to do. I was in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. I noticed the same fact. Teenagers, taught to fight and no other skill. Maybe Pakistan will have to use its own military in what is turning out to be very disturbing times for an already disturbed nation.
posted by adnanbwp on Sep 16, 2001 - 1 comment

The Pakistani government will ask the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden in three days. Why didn't the USA make such an obvious move?
posted by arf on Sep 16, 2001 - 42 comments