Still, the pace of America’s withdrawal and the size of its residual combat presence, even after his decision Wednesday, will depend on two things: negotiations with the Taliban and political pressure to stay the course. These two factors will feature prominently in the months ahead, as the...]]> Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 As NATO begins to focus on its new mission in Libya, its main mission in Afghanistan remains an unresolved debacle.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently announced that his central government will be taking over seven areas of the country from the international coalition. But the Afghan government remains incredibly weak, widely distrusted, and underrepresented in poorly secured areas of the country.

Some observers have even spun Iraq’s March 7 elections as proof that democracy promotion via military occupation can succeed. Don’t believe the hype. The Iraq war remains a mistake of mammoth proportions. And Iraq’s election represents a pyrrhic victory, as...]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The war in Afghanistan has taken a turn for the worse. According to the New York Times, Ahmed Wali Karzai--brother of Afghanistan's incumbent president, and a notorious drug baron--is also a long-time employee of the Central Intelligence Agency.

President Karzai has long been considered a U.S. puppet. And now, with evidence that his brother has been on the CIA payroll for the past eight years (a claim conveniently disclosed ahead of the second-round presidential election), shows why Afghanistan's "democratic experiment" is largely a sham. But what's new? What does "justice" really mean when someone with friends in high places can get away with a $4 billion drug...]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Vice President Joe Biden recently claimed that, because Russia’s economy is “withering,” Moscow will have to bend to the West, specifically on issues relating to the former Soviet republics and the reduction of its nuclear arsenal. But what Mr. Biden seems to be forgetting is the important role that Russia can play in the war in Afghanistan – after all, the road to Kabul runs through Moscow.

Russia has no obligation to bend one way or the other. The country still exerts strong influence over most Central Asian states, including those directly bordering Afghanistan. In fact, Russia recently allowed—after...]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 02:00:00 -0500 By Malou Innocent

US President Barack Obama recently met the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to discuss their full commitment to fighting terrorists in their region. Media coverage of the three-way talks cast the president's efforts in a favourable light, even as conditions in the region were being described, in his own words, as "increasingly perilous".

Mr Obama deserves credit for leading the meeting. Unlike his predecessor, he fully appreciates the seriousness of America's top foreign-policy challenge. The US public, however, must separate the man from the policy. Pakistan's frontier region along the Afghan border stands fully "Talebanised". Pakistan's military, for...]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:00:00 -0600 By Malou Innocent

For more than 30 years, free and open markets have propelled China's labor-driven growth and lifted more than 200 million of its citizens out of rural poverty. But America's recent economic downturn has hit China hard. Exports from its booming trade sector dropped 17.5 percent in January from a year ago. In the past several months, an estimated 20 million rural Chinese migrant workers have lost their jobs.

China's rising unemployment could lead to increased social unrest, and challenge the authority of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Throughout 30 years of liberal reform, the CCP has justified its authoritarian grip through the promise of economic...]]>