Joshua Foust

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Afghanistan: Riots in Ghazni

  11 September 2009

Free Range International reports that there is a fresh round of rioting in Ghazni, Afghanistan. There are rumors the rioters were protesting the abduction and murder of Shams al-Din, a popular anti-American cleric.

Afghanistan: Animal House in Kabul

  8 September 2009

Tim Lynch, an American security contractor in Afghanistan, used to work with the now-fired security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. He says: “The problem with the current guard force is that they are on a sh** contract. Ignore the money value published in the papers – that number...

Kyrgyzstan: Presidential Elections Are Over

  3 August 2009

Tolkun Umaraliev says the opposition candidates claim the election in Kyrgyzstan to be illegal. There is a confusion among media, both local and foreign, that candidates Nazaraliev and Atambaev have withdrawn their candidacies. However, both Nazaraliev and Atambaev have several times stated that according to the law on elections, they...

Afghanistan: Political Machinations

  20 April 2009

While Afghanistan's so-called “rape law” has garnered a lot of Western press, there is a lot of domestic debate over it as well. The women's marches have been covered admirably by mainstream media, but there are sectarian issues to consider as well. Registan.net already highlighted some of those problems—namely, that...

Afghanistan: Chafing Under Talibanization

  11 December 2008

All is not smooth sailing in Afghanistan, and Azar Balkhi explains why: The Taliban insurgency is historically a predominantly Pashtun movement, still have very little influence among other Afghanistan minority ethnic groups like the Tajiks, Uzbek and Hazaras. It’s hard to keep others from one who believes that gun is...

Afghanistan: Meeting Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh

  25 November 2008

Nasim Fekrat, an independent Afghan journalist, met with imprisoned journalism student Sayed Pervez Kambakhsh in Pul-e Charkhi prison. He seemed disappointed and desperately waved at me. Only for a few seconds I got closer to him, closer to hear him, which was difficult because of the noise. Suddenly my left...

Afghanistan: A Slice of Life at FOB Kalagush

  19 November 2008

Not your typical embed: Andrew Klavan spent a few days with Forward Operating Base (FOB) Kalagush. It's quite well-written: despite the requisite Kipling shout outs (though they make much more sense here, this being the literal setting of a famous Kipling novel and actual biography), he explains well the challenges the U.S. faces.

Afghanistan: Mired in Combat

  19 November 2008

An interesting pair of stories in the New York Times illustrate brilliantly just how complex the problems facing the United States in Afghanistan and Pakistan really are. The first is CJ Chivers' look at an embattled outpost in Nuristan...

Afghanistan: Peace, and Trash

  7 October 2008

Joshua Foust notes the goings on in the Afghanistan blogosphere: ruminations on trash, reconciliation, and, of course, the messy problems posed by the Taliban. That is, if you can define "Taliban."

Afghanistan: Seeking Justice

Despite its reputation for a very conservative brand of Islam, Afghanistan is deeply torn. Before the recent decades of war, the country was more known for its mystical Sufism that attracted crowds of hippies and tourists than anything else; the Soviet War helped entrench a more fundamentalist brand of Islam...

Afghanistan: Violence in the Hazarajat, Protests in Kabul

  28 July 2008

Afghanistan is one of those countries where minority issues drive nearly everything. They form the basis for why President Hamid Karzai is “the best game in town,” but also why he should resign. They form the fundamental structure of the national government, with ethnic set-asides (Kuchis get 10 seats in...

Afghanistan: Bombing in Kabul

There was a massive suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul Monday, killing upwards of 40 people and injuring hundreds more. Many expats and locals are confused at why the crowds near the Indian embassy—which resides on a pleasant and well guarded street by most accounts filled with bookstores...

Joshua Foust's space

Joshua Foust studies international relations. In real life he’s spent the vast majority of his adult life doing defense and intelligence consulting for the U.S. government. His writing discusses energy, military, and foreign policy, and the cultural components of contemporary warfare. Joshua is also a regular contributor to The Columbia Journalism Review, where he analyzes American media coverage of conflict zones.

He's lived in Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, and wants to go back to both.

Joshua currently lives in a nameless Midwestern metropolis in America. In 2006 he was named, among others, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

Joshua also blogs at Registan.net, which is devoted to Central Asia and the Caucasus.