The war has resolved itself into three main arenas. A Taliban victory in any one will cut Kabul from the rest of the country.

Barack Obama performed a secret Afghanistan policy switch a month before the disclosure of confidential military documents. He has empowered the Saudi-Pakistani lineup to carry through peace talks with Taliban.

Saudi Abdullah undertakes to end the war by restoring Taliban to power in Kabul with the active assistance of Pakistan. The US-Saudi-Pakistan lineup to reinstate Taliban under Islamabad's aegis could push India into Iran's arms. 

Obama administration flies kites suggesting an imminent negotiating end to the Afghan war which are disconnected from the situation on the battlefield. Taliban has therefore rejected any prospect of negotiations.Obama administration flies kites suggesting an imminent negotiating end to the Afghan war which are disconnected from the ...

US is preparing its critical offensive in Kandahar, while all other parties to the Afghan War are talking about unavoidable US-Taliban negotiations. The insurgents are getting stronger and US-trained Afghan units are performing poorly.

Tehran is fearful of US troop concentrations in western Afghanistan when the main thrust of the coalition's campaign against Taliban is in the south. Iran does not believe US curbs on an Israeli attack are for real.

The stalled Battle of Marjah bodes ill for Barack Obama's most ambitious military campaign and US plans to go on from there to conquer much larger Afghan cities.

This operation confronts NATO commander, US Gen. Stanley McChrystal with the ultimate test of his strategy. He is pouring 20,000 international and Afghan troops into pulling it off, advising Taliban in advance to avoid a showdown with superior forces and settle for negotiations.

Taliban has built a position of strength by establishing a chain of parallel governments. They are ruled by Sharia law outside the writ of the Karzai administration. The insurgents will therefore hold out for much more than the political reintegration on offer from the ...

Taliban immobilized the Afghanistan capital Kabul for 18 hours with no more than 10 fighters. It also achieved its second prime objective of destroying Hamid Karzai's credibility.

President Barack Obama belatedly accused al Qaeda in Yemen of directing the failed attempt to blow up a US airliner, but US intelligence missed pointers to this plot five months ago in the failed assassination of a Saudi prince by a terrorist with explosives in his underwear. It also shared features with the Dec. 30 suicide bombing which left 7 CIA agents and a US soldier dead at an Afghan base.
Obama, who has called a meeting of US security agency chiefs for Tuesday, Jan. 5, cannot expect serious brainstorming because it would be inhibited by a mindset that refuses to refer to the failed mass-murderer as an illegal or enemy ...