The CIA faced some embarrassment when it was revealed that the intelligence agency had been giving Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai bags of cash for favorable treatment. This revelation was embarrassing for a number of reasons. First, it confirmed reports that Hamid Karzai was running a corrupt government with facilitation by agents of the U.S. government. [...]

Empires are run using carrot and stick policies. The American Empire is no different. In Afghanistan the Taliban’s refusal to comply has gotten them the stick – drones, special forces teams, and all manner of things as punishment. President Karzai for acting as a U.S. puppet, has gotten some nice carrots. And like everything else [...]

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is pointing the finger at America for continued instability in his country. To America’s shock and dismay, Karzai claimed that the America and Taliban were colluding to continue the war beyond 2014 when US forces are set to withdraw by working together in series of recent bombings. His comments came as [...]

Not a good sign for your signature war policy when the lead partner in the country in question says it’s doomed to failure. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday that the U.S.-led war on militancy would “not be successful,” and accused Western media of waging “psychological warfare” on his country. The outgoing leader said [...]

The US has handed over the prison at Bagram Air Force base to Afghanistan, in the latest in a series of transitions to have the Afghans take control of their own security. The prison transfer was part of a bargain won months ago by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. However, hundreds of prisoners at the facility [...]

NATO formally announced a new timeline for the winding down of troops in Afghanistan, agreeing to transfer responsibility for security to the Afghans by the summer of 2013, with the withdrawal of most troops timed for the end of 2014. This is a similar timeline to the exit of troops from Iraq, with a transfer [...]

Senior officials tried to assure reporters yesterday that the massacre of 16 civilians in Afghanistan will have no bearing on a post-2014 security arrangement for the US. And to be clear, it shouldn’t. We should get out regardless of that tragedy. It appears that the US is negotiating with two heads of state. There’s the [...]

While demonstrations and protests have been muted, the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier (or soldiers; still no clarity on that) has begun to unravel US policy in the war. The military transferred the soldier to Kuwait, a move that has sparked outrage among the population, who think that justice ought to [...]

The Administration has been negotiating for almost a year with the Afghan government over a post-2014 presence, after combat operations are handed over to the Afghans (this could come as early as the end of 2013). This is the second major negotiation with a foreign government over a continuing military presence that the Obama Administration [...]

A leaked NATO report suggests that the Pakistani security services are helping the Afghan Taliban in their insurgency program, and that even Afghan lawmakers want to sign up with the Taliban. The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC. The leaked [...]

Taliban negotiators approaching discussions on a peace deal with the United States claim that the talks will not be derailed by the emergence of a new video showing Marines urinating on dead Taliban soldiers. The video, released near the 10th anniversary of the opening of the terrorist prison at Guantanamo, was released anonymously on YouTube. [...]