Afghan Commentary Post

Pakistan’s security apparatus seeks to foster a satellite regime within the Taliban in Afghanistan, in hopes theycancounter Indian influence on the west border … but Pakistan should beware of what it wishes for. Afghans have a long history of changing sides. In 2009, President Obama included in his fiscal military budget a $680 billion defense appropriations bill which included funds to bribe Taliban rank-and-file members to abandon their leaders and switch sides. How did that work out? As the saying goes, “you can rent an Afghan, but you can’t buy him.” A decade later,the Taliban is even stronger, and the U.S., tired of war and frustrated with Taliban disloyalty, signed a peace deal on March 29. In defiance of its own agreement, the Taliban continues to attack not only Afghan security forces, but civilians as well.       On May 13,insurgents carried out a bloody attack on a maternity clinic in the capital city of Kabul. Afghan officials  no...

Since the pandemic started, once in a while, there has been what sounded like good news for the planet  say behavioral scientists Mindy Hernandez and Sophie Attwood,  in interview with Washington Post. My wife and I decided she would stay home while I went to grocery store. While there, my phone pinged; it was a text from my wife with a long list of additional items to pick up. Normally, I would have added them all without hesitation.But now I have to be discreet about what I put in my shopping cart—I will buyonly what wereally need. Anything more is counter-productive in the fight against Covid-19. We haveall heard plenty about this heinous killer. Mayors, governors and President Trump seem to give briefings all day, every day. The pandemic has transformed our world into an Island of Terror , where no one feels truly safe. When politicians address who is to blame for this killer, they point fingers at China, states and nations that don’t self-quarantine, peopl...