ISAF has spent months hyping Operation Moshtarak as the mother of all battles. But why is the Taliban talking up the Marja offensive? To draw ISAF further into a battle that's likely to be expensive -- and unlikely to lead to any major strategic gains.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke on Friday before a British government panel convened to investigate the prelude, events and aftermath of the Iraq War. Blair held the line against mild inquiries from the panel and indicated that his decision to help remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein did not depend on the existence of weapons of mass destruction. He also warned that Iran poses a similar threat today.
At next week's London conference on Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai is expected to announce a formal process for many Afghan Taliban fighters to put down their weapons and reintegrate with society. An overarching State Department plan for Afghan and Pakistani stability released this month gives such a reconciliation high billing as a necessary condition for peace. Ahmed Rashid, writing in the New York Review of Books, details how such a process might play out and the obstacles lying in the way.
This entry is part of an ongoing series, Drone Watch 2010.
Hakimullah Mehsud, who assumed control of the Tehrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan after the death of distant relative Baitullah Mehsud in August, was injured in a U.S. drone strike on Thursday, according to Taliban and American intelligence sources who spoke with CNN. The United States has launched drone attacks at a vastly increased rate since a suicide bomber killed seven CIA agents and injured six others in December.
Yemen's president said in an interview last night that he's willing to talk with armed groups in Yemen, including the Huthi rebels and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, provided they lay down their arms. But AQAP is almost certainly unwilling to accept his offer, and the Yemeni army continues to assault the Huthis.
