Several sources have confirmed over the past week that informal peace talks have begun between Taliban leaders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government. NATO has been facilitating the meetings by providing Taliban leaders with safe passage to Kabul to meet with high-level members of the Karzai government. The Taliban continues to reject negotiation in its […]
Tag Archives: Taliban
Little oversight for security contracts: U.S. Senate report
According to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, the Pentagon has little oversight over contracted security deals in Afghanistan and, as a result, local security deals between Western companies, American military commanders, and Afghan warlords with close connections to the Taliban are being made (James Risen, “Afghans Linked to the Taliban Guard U.S. Bases,” New York […]
Afghanistan's new Peace Council: Stopped in its tracks?
Afghan President Hamid Karzai established a High Council for Peace on September 28, 2010 with the objective of paving the way towards peace with the Taliban through negotiation and reconcilation (“Karzai sets up body for peace talks,” Aljazeera News, 28 September 2010). Karzai hand-picked the nearly 70 council members, who include representatives of women and […]
Corruption increases in Afghanistan
A recent report from Integrity Watch Afghanistan has found that corruption is steadily on the rise in Afghanistan. National Corruption Survey 2010 reports that the Afghan population paid twice as much in bribes in 2009 as it did in 2006: today bribery represents “a burden of 1 billion USD on the Afghan GDP.” The massive, […]
Happy talk watch: Afghan insurgency losing momentum
“We are heading in the right direction in Afghanistan,” U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy told the Senate Armed Services Committee on 15 June. “We are regaining the initiative and the insurgency is beginning to lose momentum.” (Jared Allen & Roxana Tiron, “After setbacks, Hoyer hints Dems’ support for Afghanistan is slipping,” The […]
Canadian military quietly stops reporting wounded
The Canadian military has quietly stopped reporting when soldiers are wounded on the battlefield (Murray Brewster, “Canada forbids reporting of battlefield wounded,” Globe and Mail, 23 March 2010). In order to satisfy the public’s right to know what is going on in Afghanistan, the military says it will instead provide an annual report on battle-related injuries. The […]