· December, 2007

Stories about Afghanistan from December, 2007

Afghanistan: Harsh Winter Predicted

  31 December 2007

Nasim Fekratْ reports that Mullah Omar, the leader of Taliban, disseminated a message to the international forces in Afghanistan saying they should expect more attacks on them by Taliban in winter.

Afghanistan: Tribal Law

  26 December 2007

Mohammad Fahim Khairy reports on a shocking case — resident of Paktia province of southern Afghanistan shaved his wife’s head, cut it her nose and ears by a knife and burn her down with boiled water in the first day of Eid.

Afghanistan: Tribalism, a true enemy

  21 December 2007

Sanjar opines that the reason Iraq and Afghanistan remain unsettled battlefields isn't that our two civilizations can't agree on the nature of God, but because they can't agree on the nature of man.

Afghanistan: Who's to Blame?

  18 December 2007

Barnett R. Rubin analyzes the change of tactics in dealing with NATO allies in Afghanistan, announced by Robert Gates, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, at a NATO meeting in Edinburgh.

Afghanistan: Oil Transit Prospects

  11 December 2007

Joshua Foust reflects on the Afghanistan's prospective role in oil transit, whilst work on the TransAfghan Pipeline continues apace with India joining the consortium, backed by the Asian Development Bank.

Afghanistan: Small Breadwinners

  7 December 2007

Nasim Fekratْ has a touching photopost, reflecting on the destiny of many children in Afghanistan, who are in the street to work and earn money to feed themselves and their families.

Aghanistan: Taliban's Shallow Promise of Justice

  6 December 2007

Afghanistanica comments on the IWPR article, which is suggesting that some people are looking to the Taliban’s parallel justice system for help with their grievances. The blog insists that the Taliban’s promise of justice is shallow: while the current justice system in Afghanistan is indeed wretched, the Taliban justice system...

Afghanistan: ABC/BBC/ARD survey reveals problem spots

  4 December 2007

Christine Quirk reviews a nationwide survey conducted in Afghanistan on behalf of ABC news, BBC News and ARD of Germany, whose results are interesting for a number of reasons – particularly the wealth of tracking data from 2006 and 2005. The economy remains a serious trouble spot, as does security.

Afghanistan: Opium Season

  4 December 2007

Ian reviews briefly a new book “Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier” by Joel Hafvenstein, saying that the author knows how to write, and unlike many writers about Afghanistan, has a sense of measure and humility about his own limitations and failures.

Afghanistan: New “Super-Envoy” to Kabul

  4 December 2007

Carl Robichaud reports that Paddy Ashdown, the former EU-UN High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been offered a newly created position in Kabul as a “super envoy” that would head Afghanistan efforts by NATO, the UN, and perhaps the EU.

Afghanistan: The Army's New Academy

  1 December 2007

Carl Robichaud reflects on the new military institution, established in the United States specially to address the Afghani issue – the U.S. Army's “Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Academy”.