By Brian Cloughley During the Second Afghan War (1878-1880) there was a particularly competent British army officer called Henry Brooke whose well-written diaries of the period are published as Brigade Commander: Afghanistan. He had little time for Afghans, and in April 1880 wrote that "An Afghan is so natural a liar that no one thinks of believing them, and among themselves they are never weak enough to pu ...

By ROD NORDLAND Taliban insurgents have reportedly captured or killed large numbers of Afghan government forces in the remote and usually quiet northeastern corner of the country for the second time this year, officials said Thursday. According to Dawlat Mohammad, the governor of Warduj district, insurgents ambushed a police convoy in the district on Wednesday, killing 10 policemen and taking 16 others pris ...

By Ray Takeyh In an autumn ritual, an Iranian president is once more coming to New York for the United Nations' annual meeting of the heads of state. Media frenzy is likely to follow, as the smiling visage of President Hassan Rouhani dominates the airways next week. Beyond vague pledges of cooperation and lofty rhetoric about turning a new page, the question remains how to assess the intentions of the new I ...

By Andrea Shalal-Esa U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter this week proposed ways to deepen defense ties between the United States and India, including co-development of the next version of the Javelin anti-tank missile now built by Raytheon Co (RTN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research). Carter, speaking at a news conference in India, said the two cou ...

By Dr. Godfrey L. Garner The United States is poised to commit another egregious error in Afghanistan which will surely, further sully our steadily diminishing status as a world leader. Continuing down this road will result in a total eradication of the dwindling trust other countries have in America as a nation to which they can turn in times of need. The real harm however will be one that Americans can si ...

An Indian court has ordered the arrest of 16 politicians and community leaders for inciting deadly religious violence in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The politicians - from India's ruling Congress party, the main opposition BJP and other regional parties - are among 69 people wanted over the riots. Nearly 50 people died in the Hindu-Muslim clashes which erupted on 7 September in the town of Muzaffar ...

Afghanistan’s president said Tuesday that he was in no rush to sign a security deal with the United States, once again dashing American hopes that a pact can be quickly finalized. The United States wants a deal by October to give American and NATO military planners enough time to prepare for to keep some troops in the country after a scheduled 2014 withdrawal, instead of a total pull-out. Afghanistan and th ...

Supporters of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party clashed with police Wednesday amid a nationwide strike called to protest a court’s ruling that one of the opposition party’s leaders should be executed for war crimes. One man was killed when he was hit by a stone thrown by opposition supporters outside the capital, police said. Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced Abdul Quader Mollah, a senior mem ...