Prerelease: Ahmed Rashid Takes On the Crisis in AfPak
Ahmed Rashid IN AFGHANISTAN: a war going in the wrong direction, a fatally flawed election, reconstruction at a standstill and a growing political vacuum that the Taliban is filling...
A Distraction from Washington’s Grand Design
Ahmed Rashid Nawaz Sharif is not part of the American script for the war on terror and the future of Pakistan, written by mandarins in the US State Department....
Bridging a gap for India and Pakistan
Ahmed Rashid Visits from three senior U.S. officials in three weeks indicate troubles in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. Washington has failed to deliver on the regional strategy it promised this spring,...
Why I like the Afghan timetable
Francis Fukuyama I am probably the only person in the United States who actually likes the fact that President Obama set an 18 month timetable for the beginning of a...
Russia: Moscow Embraces New Initiative To Forge Post-Soviet Trade Bloc
Sergei Blagov Russia wants to turn a newly minted Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan into its major vehicle for post-Soviet economic integration in Central Eurasia. Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed...
Pakistan’s conspiracy theories stifle debate
Ahmed Rashid Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan. You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed...
Afghan Election Officials Cancel Runoff, Declare Karzai Winner
Sean Maroney Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission says it has canceled the presidential runoff, originally scheduled for this Saturday. The announcement came a day after President Hamid Karzai's challenger, former foreign...
Pakistan denies drone attack report
The military said that the explosion in Bajaur was caused by a vehicle packed with explosives [AFP] Pakistan's military has denied that a US drone attack was behind the deaths of as...
US envoy expects smooth Afghan poll
Karzai agreed to take part in a second and decisive round of voting after talks with US officials [AFP] The senior US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan has said...
Central Asia: The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Undergoing Dangerous Transformation
Deirdre Tynan The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is undergoing a metamorphosis that could transform the Islamic militant group into a far more dynamic foe for Central Asian governments, as...
Azerbaijan: Baku Hopes Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement Means Deal on Karabakh
Shahin Abbasov On the eve of the October 10 signing of protocols for reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, Azerbaijani officials have muted expectations that a rapprochement between Yerevan and Ankara...
Building a Normal Nation
Alexei Bayer The footage from the sprawling Cherkizovsky Market that inundated Russian television after the authorities shut it down makes hair-raising viewing. But it is also part of a distressing...
Caspian Basin: Pentagon Web Initiative Sparks Debate on Best Methods for Winning Hearts and Minds
Deirdre Tynan A US Defense Department Internet initiative is stoking a debate among experts about whether the Pentagon is overreaching. The $10.1 million Trans Regional Web Initiative (TRWI) aims...
Central Asia: Pentagon Plans for Deployment of Special Forces to States outside Afghanistan
Deirdre Tynan The US military is preparing for a worst-case scenario in Central Asia. The Pentagon is presently developing plans covering the potential deployment of elite Special Forces to Central...
No Gas Deal Reached With Turkmens
Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov failed Sunday to set a time frame for the return of Turkmen gas flows to Russia, halted since April after a pipeline blast that...