Afghanistan

By Clarity Staff Reporter • December 29th, 2008

The resurgent Taliban is putting in place a full shadow government in much of Afghanistan. As close as 30 miles from Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, the Taliban has provincial governors, police chiefs and courts in session ruling under Sharia laws. Associated Press reports that, “…The Taliban has long operated its own shadow government in the [...]

  Britain entered the Iraqi war as the undisputed champion of counter-insurgency. Their decades of experience in Ireland, had given them the playbook for urban warfare. This confidence in their abilities, some would term it arrogance, all came to naught on the dusty streets and alleys of Iraq’s second largest city, Basra. The British have [...]

Another open memo was published today on Afghanistan and US Foreign Policy. It is another in a long stream of advisory messages. Madeline Albright wrote one, too that turned into a best-selling book for her. There are a plethora of others from various lobbyists and interest groups. Today the prestigious Brookings Institute, an independent [...]

This is from Associated Press and supports a previous article on the unraveling of NATO commitment to Afghanistan, which can be found here  NATO UNRAVELS
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - The lower chamber of Czech parliament has failed to extend a mandate for the deployment of the country’s troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other foreign [...]

  When a crowd of over 10,000 Pakistanis take to the streets chanting  “Down with America” and “Jihad is the only solution of America”, the West had better sit up and take notice. These particular demonstrators were venting their anger at the US unmanned air drone attacks and that Pakistan is being used as a [...]

  If you have seen the movie, ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’, you will know more than most about the consequences of how the US-Pakistan-Saudi involvement with the Taliban war against the Soviets, and the incomplete way the business was finished, has contributed a great deal to current day problems. It is even more ironic, how the [...]

  NATO has been struggling with the logistics of resupply in Afghanistan. its supply route from Pakistan through the Khyber Pass has shown itself vulnerable to attack. Several shipments have been ambushed by Taliban fighters resulting in the loss of vital supplies, including weaponry, ammunition and light armored vehicles. In addition storage depots in Pakistan [...]

There are fundamental misconceptions at the heart of US policy on the war on terror that effect its efficient implementation. Firstly, it seems to be assumed that the terrorists are somewhere ‘over there’, and if we fight them there, then we won’t have to fight them here.  Secondly, there is a tacit political agreement that [...]

The Daily Clarity, among others, has been predicting the demise of NATO support for continued involvement in Afghanistan, and today it looks we are proved right. Commanders have requested an additional 20,000 or more troops for deployment in war torn Afghanistan, and they will all be coming from the US. When asked by reporters [...]

  Somewhat lost in the headlines today is a report showing that the Taliban footprint in Afghanistan has increased from 54% of the country to 72% in the last year. The release of this data got hidden in many publications, dwarfed by domestic issues and reports of the Blackwater guards’ surrender. However, the latest report released by the [...]

  Afghanistan is a costly war - not just in terms of financial resources, fatalities, and strategic value - there is a humanitarian price to be paid too. The Afghan people are paying that price. UN figures estimate that over 160,000 Afghans were internally displaced in 2007 alone. The Afghan people are sandwiched between Taliban insurgents [...]

If, as many analysts are now predicting, the US-Afghanistan war ends in disaster, it will be due to a large extent to a lack of understanding of the Pashtun factor. The seeds for the US difficulties in Afghanistan were sown in 2003. At this point in the conflict, the US had the upper hand. [...]

  According to an Associated Press wire, a Taliban warlord made an offer today to stop fighting against Pakistan, and instead fight with them in a war against India. The offer came in the form of a video recording by deputy chief of the faction Tehrik-e-Taliban, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad. He is quoted as saying, “If India [...]

The Mumbai attacks are close to achieving the objectives that  many intelligence analysts believe was the plan all along, to embroil India and Pakistan in war and to isolate US and NATO forces from Pakistani support in the Afghanistan conflict. In a report today from the British newspaper The Guardian, it says Pakistan is [...]

It is difficult to imagine a more frustrating theater of war for High Command than the current situation in Afghanistan. Afghanistan itself is a challenging country - difficult terrain, long vulnerable supply routes, a suspicious tribal populace, a questionable government and with nominal, porous borders for insurgents. Add to this the difficult political and [...]