Afghan Commentary Post

  A Strong Army or a Strong Nation? Why Afghanistan’s Future Depends on People, Not Parades By Wahab Raofi A familiar argument insists that “a country with a strong army is a country that respects itself.” For Afghanistan—a land scarred by invasions and proxy wars—this idea carries deep emotional weight. The image of a unified, professional military promises sovereignty, order, and an escape from decades of instability. Yet Afghanistan’s modern history suggests that this pursuit has repeatedly confused the symbol of strength with its substance , often at the nation’s ultimate expense. Historically, Afghanistan’s military has played a decisive—and often destructive—political role. The relatively stable rule of King Zahir Shah and later President Sardar Daoud in the 1970s did not collapse because of foreign invasion or popular uprising, but because tanks rolled out of the barracks. These coups violated a foundational principle of any functioning state: that the military must rem...

  The Limits of Pressure: Trump's Iran Strategy Why Trump Seeks to Contain Iran, Not Topple It Why it works: By Wahab Raofi Amid renewed saber-rattling between Washington and Tehran, a familiar pattern of threat and counter-threat dominates the headlines. Yet beneath the rhetoric lies a more consequential question: is the United States prepared to attack Iran to overthrow its regime? Shaped by the searing failures of recent history, the answer is almost certainly no. The Trump administration's strategy is not one of regime change but of  coercive restraint —a concerted effort to cripple Iran's capacity to project power and pursue nuclear weapons without triggering another open-ended war. This represents a fundamental departure from the ideological nation-building projects that defined earlier U.S. interventions. The 2003 invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush culminated in the disastrous policy of de-Ba’athification, which dismantled the Iraqi state itsel...

  The Tyranny of Fusion: Why Mosque and State Must Separate From Taliban Decrees to Ibn Khaldun’s Warning — How the Coercion of Faith Corrupts Both Religion and Freedom By Wahab Raofi The Taliban rule Afghanistan by decree, enforcing a rigid and highly selective interpretation of Sharia law. By claiming divine authority, they govern without accountability to the people. Under this framework, dissent is not treated as a political disagreement but as an act of apostasy — an offense against Islam itself — punishable by imprisonment, torture, or death.7A recent Taliban decree illustrates the dangers of fusing mosque and state. It formally divides society into a four-tier hierarchy: religious scholars ( ulama ), elites ( ashraf ), the middle class, and the lower class. Justice under this system is not blind. The severity of punishment depends not on the crime committed, but on the social status of the accused. A religious scholar may receive a verbal warning for an offense th...

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    By Wahab Raofi Mass demonstrations in solidarity with Muslims have taken place across the United States and Europe in support of Gaza’s residents. People exercised their right to protest — and rightly so. But a troubling question follows. As Gerard Baker of The Wall Street Journal asks: “Where are the protests in the West for other persecuted Muslims? Where are the defenders of the downtrodden victims of brutally repressive states? Where are the crowds in New York, London, Sydney and Rome demanding justice and freedom for Muslims imprisoned, beaten or silenced in Iran, Afghanistan, China and elsewhere?” As one who was born into a Muslim family, I believe that many of us who left our homelands because of cultural, religious and political tyranny still carry within us a relic of what we were taught. In our subconscious there remains a reflex we struggle to unlearn: to excuse any wrongdoing committed by “our side,” and to condemn others even when they are right. We ...

      Could Venezuela Stumble into War Like Afghanistan? Here Is Why That Outcome Is Not Very Probable   By Wahab Raofi Unlike the tribal and religious landscape that sustained decades of jihad against foreign occupiers in Afghanistan, Venezuela presents a markedly different social and political terrain — one that lacks the same mechanisms for mass religious mobilization against external intervention. During his campaign, Donald Trump embraced “No More Wars” as a slogan and pledged to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan , promising to end what he called the nation’s “forever war.” That was then. Following the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Trump has once again startled allies and adversaries alike. Writing in The Wall Street Journal , Gerald Baker observes that Trump has never been adept at articulating a coherent strategic rationale, and that his idiosyncratic foreign policy style invites maximalist interpretati...