Afghanistan | openDemocracy

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

- Bertrand Russell

‘Not in Our Name’: Why MPs remain powerless to stop Britain going to war

Stuart Weir 25 March 2013

The massive 2003 public campaign against Blair’s attempt to take the UK into war against Iraq demanded a war powers rule in Parliament to ensure that no government could ever again commit the country to war without Parliament’s approval. A decade later, the fight goes on for the ruling.

Mission Afghanistan

Ananth Durai 15 March 2013

%22Bordering" India must take on a global leadership role, providing both economic and military aid together with regional/global partners, in support of the Afghan government.

Kajaki, saga of ruin

Paul Rogers 14 March 2013

The story of how an Afghan dam was planned, prepared, fought over and now abandoned symbolises the epic failure of the "war on terror".

Slow and steady in Kabul

Mitchell Sutika Sipus 12 March 2013

Years of violent conflict and a history of controversial planning in Kabul have stifled urban development in the city.

CSW: Voices from Afghanistan

Massouda Jalal 7 March 2013

The engagement of women as suicide bombers in the Taliban insurgency manifests fresh directions in the approaches and ideologies of those who are behind it. Counterinsurgency measures need to pay attention to the factors that drive women and girls to join the Taliban as suicide bombers, says Massouda Jalal

Mali, and remote-control war

Paul Rogers 28 February 2013

The Afghan model of future war based on armed-drones and special-forces is being refined in Mali. But the western states there risk provoking the reaction that defeated them in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Fighting for the high ground

Vron Ware 15 February 2013

While the Baha Mousa inquiry "may have shone a torch into a dark corner", what is now before the court is more like "a stadium in which we will switch on the floodlights".

Europe needs principles for intervention

Rasmus Alenius Boserup and Mona Sheikh 15 February 2013

Why is Denmark involved in Mali? European leaders should clarify when, why and how to participate in military interventions and warfare abroad. Emerging security challenges in nearby neighbourhood regions, together with a waning Pax Americana, are obliging Europe to reconsider its future global role.

Drone wars: the Afghan model

Paul Rogers 14 February 2013

The transition to "remote-control" militarism by the United States and its allies is accelerating . Behind the reports of withdrawal, Afghanistan is already a template of the intended future.

جنگ بر سر واژه ها: آزادی بیان بعد از خروج نیروهای آمریکایی از افغانستان

Nasim Fekrat 21 January 2013

%22Bordering"

نویسندگان و خبرنگاران افغان با وخیم تر شدن وضعیت روبرو هستند. بعضی بر این باوراند که ممکن است دستآورد های آزادی بیان بعد از خروج نیروهای خارجی ناپدید شوند

English.

War for words: freedom of speech after America leaves

Nasim Fekrat 21 January 2013

%22Bordering" Afghan writers and reporters face a worsening situation. Some fear that the gains made for freedom of speech will disappear with the drawdown of foreign forces. فارسی

Al-Qaida, idea in motion

Paul Rogers 4 January 2013

The United States's "remote control" campaign against Islamist targets is intensifying. But behind the headlines, the transnational diffusion of al-Qaida's idea is just as potent.

The root cause of green on blue attacks

Nasim Fekrat 17 December 2012

%22Bordering" The draw down of international troops in Afghanistan was predicated on ISAF building a relationship with Afghan forces to 'hand over' security. 'Green on blue attacks' signal an opposite trend, and one that may intensify as troops leave.

Talking to the other side: humanitarian engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan

Antonio Giustozzi and Ashley Jackson 11 December 2012

%22Bordering" Aid agency engagement with the Taliban will be critical to ensuring they can still operate after 2014. Research published by ODI explores Taliban attitudes toward aid work and the approaches used by aid agencies to gain access to Taliban-held areas.

When soldiering gets sexy: the militarization of gender equality and sexual difference

Vron Ware 10 December 2012

Up in Arms continues to track the figure of the soldier in contemporary culture as a consequence of NATO’s wars. How does militarism – the belief in the superiority of military values and methods – shape or perhaps even challenge gender stereotypes in countries that send troops off to war?

This week's editor

Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

European debate

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Nuclear non-proliferation

Women and the Arab Spring

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

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Markha Valenta Inter Alia: religion, politics, culture

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