Afghan Commentary Post

By Wahab Raofi In an op-ed in the New York Times, Kathy Gannon writes that America should go back to Afghanistan and open its embassy in Kabul to get re-engaged with the Taliban and society. I understand her perspective; it’s rooted in her sympathy for the hardships faced by the Afghan people, whose pain and suffering she covered for the past four decades as a reporter. The reality necessitates an approach that prioritizes the interests of the United States’ values and the welfare of Afghan people. Opening the embassy in Kabul is not one of those. Instead, it may inadvertently strengthen the Taliban's iron-grip on power that neither Afghans nor the community of the free world espouses. I believe that re-opening the U.S. embassy would be seen as a recognition of the Taliban regime that no other country has accepted, and it’s for good reason: This group is widely regarded as extremists, rejecting the will of its people to hold free elections, violating human rights, crackin...

  This article is published by the Orange County Register and its sister newspapers By Wahab Raofi   The Israeli response to Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on its people and territory on October 7, 2023, could not have been a simple verbal condemnation or warning. It had to be a counterattack, for anything short of that would likely encourage further attacks from Hamas. The Iranian-backed Hamas attack involved a murderous rampage, killings and kidnapping of Israelis ranging from 10-month-old babies to an 86-year-old senior, as well as the reprehensible acts of raping Israeli women . Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goals are to destroy Hamas, bring hostages home and get re-elected. I concur with his first two aims, but the inhumane way the war on Hamas has been executed is not justifiable. Such a strategy carries the risk of fueling not only antisemitism, but also potentially creating a security threat for Israel’s ally, the United States, from Muslim ext...