When the anointed king receives his vassal formally at his durbar for the first time, it is a moment of truth conveying that the latter’s obeisance is noted, while the vassal hopes to claim legitimacy. A US president is due to receive Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in the White House on Friday after a gap…
The past 20 years of conflict have achieved nothing apart from bloodshed and pain, and now the foes the West invaded to depose are about to get back into power. Afghanistan needs an economic solution, not a military one. To nobody’s surprise, the rapid US withdrawal from Afghanistan has resulted in a massive advance of the…
In a recent interview with Reuters, Turkish officials announced Turkey’s readiness to occupy the Kabul airport after US troops withdraw, and to take over managing and protecting it. Turkey articulated this proposal back at a NATO meeting in May, when Washington and its allies agreed on a plan for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan. On…
The Establishment Foreign Policy has long advocated a policy of staying in Afghanistan until a political reliable government is established there. Possibly the best news to come out of the past week has been the announcement of a possibly Egyptian mediated cease fire between Israel and Gaza late last Thursday. The fighting killed 243 Palestinians,…
Apocalyptic scenario is unwarranted The Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on May 13, “We will not allow boots on the ground or military bases on our territory.” He was referring to the future US security operations in the region. The Pentagon’s stated position is also not about establishing any new bases in the…
The New Great Game 3.0 is just beginning with a hat tip to Tacitus and dancing to the Hindu Kush groove. One cannot but feel mildly amused at the theatrical spectacle of the US troop pullout from Afghanistan, its completion day now postponed for maximum PR impact to 9/11, 2021. Nearly two decades and a…
