When I first learned about the Thirty Years War in a history class in college, I was both fascinated and amazed. How in the world could a war go on for 30 years? That just seemed incomprehensible to me. Not anymore. The U.S. war on Afghanistan has now been going on for 17 years. And…
An ancient Hindu prayer says, ‘Lord Shiva, save us from the claw of the tiger, the fang of the cobra, and the vengeance of the Afghan.’ The United States, champion of freedom and self-determination, is now in its 18th year of colonial war in Afghanistan. This miserable, stalemated conflict is America’s longest and most shameful…
As I approach 75, I’m having a commonplace experience for my age. I live with a brain that’s beginning to dump previously secure memories — names, the contents of books I read long ago (or all too recently), events, whatever. If you’re of a certain age yourself, you know the story. Recently, however, I realized…
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Washington’s operation in Afghanistan has come to a screeching halt. Seventeen years after the initial invasion, the Pentagon has no means of pacifying the local population or establishing a stable government. Over the last two decades there has been a lot of events on the international stage,…
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is steadily changing its policies – both domestic and foreign. Outside observers are putting the change down to democratic transition and an Asian-style populism. This is partially justified, since the recent parliamentary elections were relatively transparent and the winner – the current prime minister, Imran Khan – opted for combating…
The Taliban just announced the cancellation of its planned peace talks with the US in Qatar. Before this happened, America rightly felt like it was losing control over the incipient peace process in Afghanistan after Russia adopted the long-standing Pakistani position a few years ago that the only realistic solution to the war is to…
