The doings in the US Senate over the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense are illustrative of many things, not all of which are what they seem to be at first glance. We have a few days now before this plays out, and therefore an opportunity to reflect on the dynamics at work here. By Alan Sabrosky February 20, 2013 "Information Clearing House" -  I won't bore everyone with a b ...

 Asif Haroon Raja When the US and its allies failed to impose a military solution, and its sinister plan to pitch Taliban against Al-Qaeda, or to divide Taliban by categorizing them as good and bad Taliban and making them fight against each other also failed, and morale of ISAF troops started sinking because of prolonged stay in battle zone, home sickness, rising battle casualties, suicide cases and psychia ...

Asif Haroon Raja Creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1947 broke the century old shackles of bondage. Although a moth-eaten and truncated Pakistan, yet it was the largest Muslim nation in the world. Seventy million hearts of Pakistanis throbbed and pulsated with rapturous excitement and joy. The unfurling of the green and white banner raised their heads with pride and their jubilation knew no bounds. Their re ...

Unreliable data can incite and escalate a conflict – the latest UN-sponsored figure of 60,000 should not be reported as fact By Sharmine Narwani February 16, 2013 "Information Clearing House" - Less than two months after the UN announced "shocking" new casualty figures in Syria, its high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay estimates that deaths are "probably now approaching 70,000". But two years int ...

By Bill Van Auken A US airstrike in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday killed 10 civilians, including five children. The deadly attack came just hours after the State of the Union speech in which President Barack Obama falsely claimed that the more than decade-long US war and occupation in Afghanistan “will be over” by the end of next year. Afghanistan’s Pajhwok Afghan News agency (PAN) reported that the civilia ...

By Usman Khalid, Director Rifah Institute of Foreign Affairs (RIFA) Not many people know that Hindus are a minority in India. The number of those within the fold of chaturvarna i.e. four castes (Brahmin, Kashatri, Vesh and Shudara) are no more than 15% of the population of India – the same as the Muslims. The original inhabitants of India are treated as ‘untouchables’ like the shudras but their number is 65 ...

Asif Haroon Raja Few thousands fighters under Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbadin Hikmatyar have been fighting the occupation forces and ANSF for twelve years. The resistance forces consider ANSF and ruling regime led by Karzai as collaborators while the latter view the Taliban as extremists and anti-democratic. The US punished them for collaborating with Al-Qaeda. Failing to defeat ...

Professor Ali Sukhanver Recently a Bangladeshi judicial tribunal sentenced life imprisonment to Abdul Qader Mullah, a leader of Jamat-e-Islami, for his role during the independence war against Pakistan in 1971. According to the media reports, somewhere in 2010, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initiated the process of trying those accused of committing crimes against humanity during the war, u ...