Protegido: Don’t Repeat in Syria the Mistakes of Afghanistan
No hay extracto porque es una entrada protegida.
Graeme Smith
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Protegido: The World Has No Choice But to Work With the Taliban
No hay extracto porque es una entrada protegida.
Protegido: Let Afghanistan Rebuild
No hay extracto porque es una entrada protegida.
Afghanistan’s central bank needs its assets back
Afghanistan’s central bank remains hostage to political drama, with perilous results for 20m Afghans on the brink of starvation. Arguments over its frozen assets abroad have raged since the Taliban seized back control of the country in August 2021. In a standoff between the Taliban and America, there is a desperate need to find low-key solutions for reviving the financial sector, and thus the Afghan economy, despite the mutual hostility that persists.
I have worked in Afghanistan since 2005, most recently researching the economic crisis. In the local bazaars, most people have never heard of “monetary stability”—but they suffer from a lack of it.… Seguir leyendo »
Protegido: Talk to the Taliban—But Don’t Trust Them
No hay extracto porque es una entrada protegida.
Afghanistan: The Humanitarian Crisis and U.S. Response
Chairman Murphy, Ranking Member Young, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for your attention to this important subject and for inviting me to testify.
I am a Senior Consultant for the International Crisis Group, which covers more than 50 conflict situations around the world, including Afghanistan, with the aim of helping to prevent, resolve or mitigate deadly conflict. I have worked in the country since 2005.
In previous years, I listened to U.S. congressional hearings from Kandahar or Kabul, sometimes with gunfire or explosions in the background. The Internet connection was not always good, but I heard enough to understand that the United States had ambitious plans for Afghanistan.… Seguir leyendo »
The Taliban Have Claimed Afghanistan’s Real Economic Prize
After their stunning capture of Kabul, the Taliban have tried to convey a sense of calm. Only days after Afghanistan’s top officials scrambled onto military flights and desperate Afghans clung to the fuselage of departing planes, the Taliban coolly went on inspection tours of government facilities. In the control room of the state electrical utility, a delegation of the Taliban stood in front of the blinking display panels and promised to keep the lights on.
How exactly the Taliban plan to keep all systems running, in one of the poorest countries of the world that depends on more than $4 billion a year in official aid and where foreign donors have been covering 75 percent of government spending, is an urgent question.… Seguir leyendo »
Interpreting the U.S. Talks with the Taliban
How significant were the U.S.-Taliban talks?
Last week’s six-day talks between the U.S. and Taliban were the clearest sign yet that the U.S. is intent on withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, and that the Taliban and its regional allies perceive that intent as an opportunity. It is early to draw conclusions but the signals from Doha inspire optimism about ending America’s longest war. A U.S. and NATO troop withdrawal has long been the Taliban’s top demand and the driving rationale for the insurgency. The Doha talks also were the first time that the U.S. has publicly acceded to the Taliban’s insistence that bilateral negotiations on terms for a troop withdrawal precede any peace negotiations involving other Afghans.… Seguir leyendo »
Taliban Factionalism Rises After Mullah Omar's Death
The recent confirmation of the death of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the symbolic leader of the Taliban, has added fresh uncertainty to Afghanistan's fledgling peace process.
There were already signs that Taliban unity was under stress, and the internal disagreements that have emerged since the announcement of Omar's death have raised concerns that the insurgency could further dissolve into warring factions. These developments raise the daunting prospect of trying to broker peace with a movement at war with itself.
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani enjoyed a minor breakthrough in his long efforts to negotiate an end to the insurgency when his team sat down with Taliban officials for talks in Pakistan on 7 July.… Seguir leyendo »
Policía Local Afgana: ¿abuso o protección?
Un grupo de hombres armados dejó atado a un prisionero en campo abierto en Afganistán, cogió un lanzagranadas y utilizó a la víctima como blanco para prácticas de tiro. Otro grupo reunió a hombres y niños, los encerraron en una mezquita y, acto seguido, fue casa por casa robando y violando mujeres. En otro lugar, una banda apresó al hombre más respetable de la aldea –un señor de barba canosa que se atrevió a quejarse acerca de su comportamiento– y lo arrastró atado a una camioneta hasta que murió.
Todos estos hombres armados reciben salarios de Estados Unidos como parte de un programa de 120 millones de dólares para apoyar a la Policía Local Afgana (ALP, en inglés).… Seguir leyendo »
U.S.-funded Afghan police prey on those they’re paid to protect
One band of Afghan gunmen tied up a captive in an open field, picked up rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and used the victim for target practice. Another group rounded up men and boys and confined them in a mosque, before going house-to-house to steal valuables and rape women. Elsewhere, a bunch of gunmen took the most respected elder of a village — a white-bearded gentleman who dared to complain about their behavior — and dragged him behind their pickup truck until he was dead.
Fighters like these collect salaries from the United States as part of a $120 million program to support the Afghan Local Police (ALP).… Seguir leyendo »
Grabbing the Wolf's Tail
“The Taliban are still here,” a pharmacist who sells medicine to remote villages in the southeast told me last month in this shabby frontier town. “People are anxious about 2014 because the troops are leaving.”
After his customers started to understand recently that the United States and its allies will pull out most of their forces this year, he said, his sales of medication for anxiety, depression and insomnia increased 30-fold. Fear of a Taliban resurgence is so widespread that it is hurting property prices and the value of Afghanistan’s currency, scaring investors away and impelling Afghans to seek foreign asylum.… Seguir leyendo »