Afghanistan: Is Another Syria in the Offing?

Afghanistan: Is Another Syria in the Offing?

Sept, 2017: An ominous trend is in the process in Afghanistan. If it continues, it would undo what the international community built with enormous costs in lives and money. Simply put, it is a new sectarian conflict that threatens to disrupt the very fabric of the society and would give the conflict in Afghanistan a new dimension.

Two Deadly Bombings in two Days

Two Deadly Bombings in two Days

Kabul July 1, 2016 | On Tuesday, three terrorists blew themselves up in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport killing 42 people and injuring scores of others, almost all innocent civilians. Two days later two suicide bombers hit a convoy of young police cadets on the western outskirts of Kabul killing 30 and injuring more than 50 others. The […]

Talks with the Taliban, on what justification?

Talks with the Taliban, on what justification?

Published: Aug 26, 2015 | Courtesy: GEO News, Pakistan Kabul, July 7, 2015 – The first round of talks between Afghan government and the Taliban delegations ended on July 7, 2015 in Pakistan with the promise of resumption after Eid al Fitr. It was the first serious encounter between the two sides in a long […]

Memorandum of Capitulation

Memorandum of Capitulation

by Akram Gizabi / July 1, 2015 | Memorandum of Capitulation Recently the Afghan government signed a security deal with Pakistan to cooperate in countering security threats to the two neighbors. Since the beginning, the agreement was fraught with controversy. There are several issues why this so called MoU raises serious concerns both inside and […]

Release of Five Top Taliban Leaders ‘A Bad Swap’

Release of Five Top Taliban Leaders ‘A Bad Swap’

June 3, 2014 : The release of Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five top Taliban leaders that took place on May 31, raises a few serious questions about the nature of the event, US Administration’s position vis-a-vis the important issues of human rights and fighting terrorism, and what it means for the future of Afghanistan. […]

Why are the Hazaras being killed in Balochistan, Pakistan?

Akram Gizabi – April 21, 2012 | There is a dramatic increase in the senseless and cowardly attacks on Hazara civilians in Quetta, Pakistan. People are being targeted for no apparent reasons.  The attacks are indiscriminate and random and the victims are exclusively Hazaras. The latest attack took the lives of eight people who were […]

Rapprochement with the Taliban: Is it Tenable?

Akram Gizabi – Feb 23, 2012 | Are the Taliban a terrorist group? Is the country that harbors and nurtures them on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism? The answers to both of these questions are obvious and need not require any elaboration. What does however necessitate scrutiny and expansion is why the Obama […]

The Taliban and moderation: a contradiction in terms

Akram Gizabi – Nov 25, 2001 | Recently, there have been talks of including “moderate Taliban” in the future government of Afghanistan. This is a notion raised by Pakistan during the visit of Secretary of State Collin Powell to Islamabad. Let’s examine this notion as to who these Taliban could be: Who among the Taliban […]