Patrick Cockburn reports from Mosul:
There has been a mounting number of clashes between predominantly Arab Iraqi army units and the Kurdish peshmerga forces along a 260-mile line that stretches diagonally across the northern third of Iraq, from Sinjar to Khanaqin in the south.
The tensions underpinning the conflict have always attracted less international attention than the [...]
Archive for February, 2009
Iraq: The Next War
Posted in Iraq, Kurds, Mosul on February 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Pakistan: Monday Morning Links
Posted in Pakistan on February 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
So I finally caught the flu. And have a deadline. And am about to leave for an assignment in a week. So expect light posting. Some Monday reading:
“Reading Swat.” Mana “Chapati Mystery” Ahmed’s take on Swat.
“Secret U.S. Unit Trains Commandos in Pakistan.” NYT’s Eric Schmitt and Jane Perlez report on a secret American task force [...]
Afghanistan: Lessons from Mosul
Posted in Iraq, Mosul on February 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I have no idea whether the strategic reviews ordered by Obama will check the free fall in Afghanistan, but here’s a suggestion: Instead of trying to import the counterinsurgency tactics it employed successfully in Iraq, the U.S. military should take a hard look at where it failed.
In a word: Mosul.
After years of much-touted offensives* by [...]
The Pelton Controversy: Colouring the Facts in Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan on February 18, 2009 | 17 Comments »
Congratulations to Bill and Bob’s Excellent Afghan Adventure for a very funny putdown of Robert Young Pelton’s Men’s Journal piece on Human Terrain Teams in Afghanistan. I don’t much care for Pelton’s writing either, but style aside, as a fellow reporter I’d like to offer a couple of random thoughts on the issue of fact [...]
Afghanistan: Danish Soldiers ‘Negotiating with Taleban’
Posted in Afghanistan on February 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Denmark, which has lost more soldiers in Afghanistan per capita than any other ISAF country, has apparently decided to try a different tack. According to the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, Danish soldiers have started to negotiate with the local Taleban in Helmand because “wiping out the insurgency was proving so difficult”:
‘We have already held several meetings with [...]
Pakistan: Predator Strikes ‘Unconstitutional’
Posted in Pakistan on February 17, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Pakistani defence analyst Shireen Mazari makes a point which those calling the deadly Predator strikes “impressive” should take note of: these are in fact extrajudicial killings in contravention of Pakistan’s constitution:
[...] Clearly no law exists that allows the state to kill its own people, even in the case of capital punishment where legal procedures have [...]
Pakistan, the Next Cambodia?
Posted in Afghanistan, Human rights, Pakistan on February 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As the chief Khmer Rouge torturer goes on trial today in Phnom Penh for crimes against humanity, we’d do well to remember a little bit of history. The Khmer Rouge may have been an indigenous movement, but the collapse of the Cambodian state and the resulting cataclysm were brought about by outside catalysts — an [...]
Swat: Pakistan Ratifies Defeat
Posted in Pakistan on February 17, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As the news of Islamabad’s peace deal with the Taleban filters in, there’s a temptation to over-contextualise what this actually means. To begin with, there’s Swat’s tortured history. And then, of course, there’s the question of interpretation:
Sharia is understood and applied in such varied ways across the Muslim world that it is difficult to say [...]
Sharia in Swat, Pakistan ‘Fights for Survival’
Posted in Afghanistan, Pakistan on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Wonderful:
Pakistan agreed on Monday to restore strict Islamist law in the Swat valley to pacify a revolt by Taliban militants.
Zardari says his country is in a “battle to survive”. Does he think this will help, I wonder.
Reactions here and here. For two different Pakistani views, go here.
Survey: Bush One of ‘Bottom Ten’ Presidents
Posted in U.S. on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It will be hard for George W. Bush — should he care about such things — to find anything positive in C-Span’s just released second Presidential Leadership Survey. In short, Bush ranks as number 36 among the 42 U.S. presidents surveyed, with just five even worse presidents behind him. In international relations, he’s second to [...]
