In his latest book titled The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan, former US Marine and best-selling author Elliot Ackerman offers a ringside view of the war. Elliot Ackerman had left the US military for over 10 years when he was sucked into the chaos that ensued following last year’s withdrawal of American troops from … Continue reading Author and former Marine Elliot Ackerman on the 20-year American war in Afghanistan
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Book Review: Afghanistan Through Tariq Ali’s Eyes
Tariq Ali (Illustration: Saurabh Singh) TARIQ ALI CAN always be expected to inspire you with new information even about much talked about events. In that sense, he is often a reporter’s reporter who carries in his head rich anecdotes and side stories, not to talk of his penchant for digging out details of ambitious decisions … Continue reading Book Review: Afghanistan Through Tariq Ali’s Eyes
The Stoned Age: The expanding landscape of drug abuse in India
(Illustration: Saurabh Singh) Proximity to the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle compounds the problem of illicit drugs in India where the super-rich and the poor alike have easier access to narcotic and psychotropic drugs that suit their purse. The rise of the Taliban who control 90 per cent of the world’s opium production and … Continue reading The Stoned Age: The expanding landscape of drug abuse in India
In Afghanistan, Where Truth Has Gone Underground, Journalists Narrate Their Ordeal
A Taliban patrol in Kabul, August 18 (Photo: AP) SADIQA SHERZAI LEFT her home in Kunduz, a major city in northern Afghanistan, shortly after the Taliban overran the area several weeks before they gained control of the country. The radio and TV platforms she founded in 2008 had earned the wrath of the religious hardliners … Continue reading In Afghanistan, Where Truth Has Gone Underground, Journalists Narrate Their Ordeal
Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund: ISI’s Man in Kabul
A hardliner with no constituency or charisma, he epitomises a Taliban controlled by Pakistan (Illustration: Saurabh Singh) There are two Taliban leaders from Kandahar with the same name: Mullah Mohammad Hassan. Both had occupied the post of the governor of Kandahar. Both were close associates of the dreaded founder of the outfit, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The … Continue reading Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund: ISI’s Man in Kabul
UNHCR Stays Silent in The Face of Protests and Pleas by Afghan Nationals in New Delhi
Many Afghan nationals protesting outside UNHCR's office in Vasant Vihar, Delhi, are women who have been spending day and night for the past nine days along with their kids and elderly parents in scorching heat and occasional rain. You can see mosquito bites all over the faces of the kids. Now, their presence here has … Continue reading UNHCR Stays Silent in The Face of Protests and Pleas by Afghan Nationals in New Delhi
Hazaras, the Most Unloved, Excluded and Abused People of Afghanistan, Speak Out
Those who have fled the Taliban regime recall the trauma of exclusion, disclose worst fears for those left behind The destroyed statue of Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari (Photo: Twitter) In Delhi’s Ashram area where she has lived for the past three years with her family comprising parents, brothers and husband, Rabia (name changed) serves me … Continue reading Hazaras, the Most Unloved, Excluded and Abused People of Afghanistan, Speak Out
‘ISI didn’t plan the Taliban victory. The US facilitated it,’ says Author & Filmmaker Adrian Levy
(Illustration: Saurabh Singh) Adrian Levy has never stayed back this long in London since he was 16, he says. The Covid-19 pandemic has confined him to his London home from where he currently gives interviews on the latest among several books he has co-authored with Cathy Scott-Clark who, these days, is tied up with an … Continue reading ‘ISI didn’t plan the Taliban victory. The US facilitated it,’ says Author & Filmmaker Adrian Levy
We can’t do business with Taliban, say India-funded Salma Dam builders
Several businessmen, including a senior executive of a company that co-built the Salma Dam in Afghanistan, state that it is unlikely that they will do any business in the landlocked nation with the Taliban returning to power. The dreaded militant outfit aims to establish a theocracy in Afghanistan. Salma Dam is officially called the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, located in Chishti … Continue reading We can’t do business with Taliban, say India-funded Salma Dam builders
SOS Appeal: Fearing for her life, Afghan TV anchor Shabnam wants to leave Afghanistan
Shabnam Khan Dawaran, whose video exposing the Taliban went viral, says she continues to receive death threats Shabnam Khan Dawaran, 24, was a TV anchor with state-run RTA channel until the Taliban stopped her from working SHABNAM Khan Dawaran, the 24-year-old Afghan TV anchor whose video about the harrowing ordeal of being stopped by Taliban … Continue reading SOS Appeal: Fearing for her life, Afghan TV anchor Shabnam wants to leave Afghanistan
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