Afghan Commentary Post

Published in Stars & Stripes To be clear, I don’t want to sound like a pessimist. I welcome any step, no matter how small, taken toward bringing peace to my native Afghanistan. The signing of the peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban   fed hope that the deal would lead to another agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government. But the Taliban has refused to engage, calling the Afghan government a “servant of foreigners.” So any optimism at this point would appear to be misplaced.The Taliban continues to attack Afghan security forces. The New York Times reported that during the month of May,at least 285 pro-government forces were killed by such attacks, and 155 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan in the last three weeks.The Taliban has only intensified their attacks. Despite the spike in violence, the Afghan government stands ready to hold talks with the Taliban, according to a government spokesperson.   For t...

Afghan Commentary Post: IRAN MUST BE CONTAINED : I may disagree with some of Mr. Trump’s policies and his unpresidential conduct, but I am going to vote for him in the upcoming U.S. presi...

  I may disagree with some of Mr. Trump’s policies and his unpresidential conduct, but I am going to vote for him in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Why? Because a vote for his rival presidential nominee, Joe Biden, is a vote for Iran’s mullahs. If Biden is elected, Iran's oppressive regime likely will succeed in creating a nuclear bomb that will pose a grave threat not only to Iran’s neighbors, but also to the entire free world.  Iran stands accused of sponsoring international terrorism and exporting its radical Islamic idealogy to modrate Muslim nations. There is evidence that Iran conscripts Afghan refugees and forces them to fight in Syria. The New York Times reported that, according to local media and witnesses, a bout 50 Afghan migrants crossing into Iran were beaten, shot at and thrown into a river. As many as half did not survive . Last week, a video on Afghan media showed an Iranian border guard shooting at a bus carrying Afghan refugees. The bus cau...