Many of us were surprised last year when President Obama considered reaching out to the Taliban. The very idea was upsetting on a number of levels, particularly around our national security, what happened on 9/11, and the current wars in which we are engaged.
But there is another element that may not have been considered [...]

This post carries an offer for the religious conservatives. Those who consider themselves good Christians, the ones who talk incessantly about family values and the importance of virginity. The ones who go to Church every Sunday and incorporate Jesus into every nonsensical thought that comes out of their mouths. The wholesome, flag-waving American-born Christians.
For all [...]

If you find the title puzzling, I am referring to this from Steve Clemons post republished at NQ here:
One other interesting tidbit here in Qatar is that many Arabs who have moved in and around Pakistan believe that President Zardari is no longer “Mr 10%.”
They call him “Mr. 20%.”
It is difficult to tell who is [...]

I saw this article in the Indian Express Online posted on May 05.
It is about time!
Islamabad:
A young Pakistani woman has floated a group on a popular social networking website to say “no to Taliban” against the backdrop of an upsurge in activities by militants demanding the enforcement of Islamic law in the country.

“This group [...]

(Bumped up from earlier today.)
I am a 60s child and I can’t relate to much of what happened during Indian independence in 1947 and its partition giving birth to the nation of Pakistan. The proponents of the partition must have meant well in their idea of a separate majority Muslim state though more and more [...]

Besides the great news that the State Department’s blog, DipNote, has passed five million page views — how many of those hits do you think come from Hillary’s dedicated supporters like so many of us at No Quarter? – there’s this important story at the blog: “Question of the Week: How Best Can the International [...]

Co-Written with Nail ‘em Up
The introduction of the AfPak plan — so named because rather than focus on Afghanistan it also incorporates Pakistan and the Pashtun populated border — seemed a big step forward for the Obama administration. According to South Asia experts, this plan was bound to succeed and seemed to have it all. [...]

LARRY JOHNSON’s SEGMENT CONCLUDED . TUNE IN NEXT SUNDAY, SAME TIME, SAME STATION, SAME LINK
O P E N   T H R E A D   T O O
John Batchelor’s show begins at 10 p.m. ET. Then, at 10:30 p.m. ET, DON’T MISS LARRY JOHNSON TONIGHT on the Batchelor show, via [...]

The U.S. has spent billions to arm the Pakistani army and police, and contributed thousands of manhours training the troops. Yet the Pakistanis are sending in token police and soldiers to fight the Taliban, and rapidly ceding large areas:
Embedded video from CNN Video
As I write this, the CNN video and transcript aren’t up, so [...]

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Taliban on the march in the fine Spring weather in the Northwest Frontier.  The spotty reports from Pakistan point to a surge of Taliban aggression ever since the failed state leadership at Islamabad ceded control of the Swat Valley to the jihadists.  The surge [...]

I treasure the Hillary Clinton who spoke to the House Foreign Affairs committee members: She’s feisty, focused, determined, no-nonsense, outspoken, nobody’s fool, and thanks to hard, hard work and burning of midnight oil, armed with a full knowledge of history and current issues at her fingertips. [Update: Watch the entire hearing. h/t B.] This [...]

Update: Read “Taliban Advance: Is Pakistan Nearing Collapse? at Time magazine. Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey notes, “this Daily Mail piece has had me on edge since morning. The Kardari government gave the Taliban an inch by signing away Swat so now they’ve decided to take a mile in Buner. The wages of appeasement. [...]

I want to let you know that as of Tuesday, 4/7, I will be on vacation in Europe for two weeks. I do not plan on posting anything during that time. As always, I refer you to my Blogroll, and to No Quarter, my home away from home.
Oh – and don’t worry about [...]

So says the article entitled “The Motives Behind the Afghan Peace Talks” written by Haroun Mir, co-director of Afghanistan Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS). Mr. Mir starts the article with this:
The recent Afghan peace talk with the Taliban, initiated by Saudi Arabia and sponsored by British authorities has been kept highly secret.
In fact [...]