Lee on Sep 06 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs
In the wake of a horrific magazine spread depicting Taliban fighters showing off war trophies looted from the bodies of French soldiers, President Sarkozy has been predictably and commendably resolute. France isn’t going to run away for a change.
Unfortunately and just as predictably, that might not be the majority opinion in France. A recent poll [...]
Lee on Sep 03 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
In Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan, the Australian army suffers its worst casualties in a single engagement since the Vietnam war, after a Taliban ambush of an SAS patrol.
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MikeR on Aug 19 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
InstapunditStop the cash flow to criminal gangs and the Taliban. Help stabilize Mexico.
“Prohibition is a failed luxury that I am not sure we can afford for that much longer.”
An illusion of control.
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Lee on Aug 06 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
An excellent visualization of the increase in attacks in Afghanistan’s individual provinces. Broadly, there’s been about a 50% increase in Taliban attacks from last year. An urgent situation, whatever Geoff Morrell thinks.
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Joshua Foust on Jun 05 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Military Matters, Notes on the war
This is the most recent of a series of posts on Registan.net where I explore some of the fundamentals of conflict within the tribal areas of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. At the end of this post is a link to the rest of them.
Nightwatch argues that May was the most violent month in Afghanistan since the [...]
Joshua Foust on May 06 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, History
Published first at Registan.net, this is the culmination of some research I’ve been doing into the nature and history of Pashtun tribal militancy. It draws from a mixture of out-of-print ethnocgraphic and geographic surveys, as well as contemporary news accounts, and tries to make the case that much of the turbulence there is really not [...]
Keith_Indy on Jan 25 2008 | Filed under: Books, Culture
A new monthly feature here at A Second Hand Conjecture, is going to be a roundup of what we’ve been reading during the past month. Feel free to discuss, or ask questions about any of the books.
Joshua:
Right now I’m re-reading Taliban by Pakistani reporter Ahmed Rashid. Though racist in parts (his description of all [...]
Lee on Jan 14 2008 | Filed under: Around the Web
Sunni tribal leaders in Pakistan are organizing militias and some are ready to revolt against Al Qaeda. David Montero at the CSM takes a look at the risks and rewards of applying our successful counterterrorism strategy from Anbar, in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
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