Afghanistan and Central Asia

Lots of news: this is just some of it.  Most of the news agencies seem to carry the domestic aspects for their own states of Afghanistan commitments–while most of the Afghanistan blogs seem to cover Afghanistan itself.  There may be something to think about in that picture.

Accurate reporting encouraged:
–A wonderfully sarcastic week at Afghanistanica, where the urban/international myth of Chechen fighters in Afghanistan is ruthlessly torn apart.  Then, a new example of this kind of misinformation concerning a non-Chechen “Chechen” cross-dressing incident is analyzed to underscore the point.  Hail, Afghanistanica!
–But not yet done: Afghanistanica then trounces the intellectual bombast and vanity that assails the ivory tower and prevents meaningful study. . . or change. . .
–Carl Robichaud is back at Afghanistan Watch, and reports on fighting at an Afghanistan drug lab, and questions whether fighting means Taliban or narcotraffickers or both.  We Afghanistan-watchers would like some background for the labels we’re given, yes?
–And in locations as well:  Peter Marton gives good reason to doubt reports by location, specifically in Tarin Kowt. 

It’s so interesting and maddening that these themes keep popping up.

Hostage, Incorporated:
–The last 19 South Korean hostages were freed over the past two days, in small groups at various collection points.  Of 23 hostages from the ROK kidnapped July 17th, two male hostages had been killed, and two previously released.  The South Korean goverment had to agree to withdraw their troops (as previously planned) by the end of the year.  They also had to agree to respect Taliban isolationism, including no missionaries (no surprise) but no visitors of any kind.  An undisclosed ransom has also likely been paid.
–Now that the hostages are freed, a backlash against the alleged reckless endangerment of missionaries by Church societies will begin.
–A Taliban spokesman has reportedly vowed that the Taliban will continue their kidnapping activities.
–And it seems so: the Taliban possibly captured as many as 100 Pakistani soldiers this week.
–And Mayor Shah is still missing from last week.  German hostages still missing.

Diplomacy:
–I missed this earlier, but that really good Civil-Military Relations blog touted this round-up as the best on Provisional Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan.
–The Dutch would like their troops to leave Afghanistan, and Canada is saying this would cause trouble for their own efforts to do the same.  Therefore NATO leadership has to woo the Netherlands first, and Canada later.
–U.S. diplomacy in Pakistan, at Ramblin’ Gal.

Opium and more opium:
–Josh Foust of Registan.net and The Conjecturer writes an assessment for Global Voices Online about the new U.S. Counter-narcotics strategy (82 pages, pdf, big letters). 
–Mr. Marton looks at the UNODC report on Afghanistan for possible irregularities. 

Military:
–Suicide bombing at Kabul airport, reportedly aiming for German soldiers but wounding Afghanistan’s soldiers instead.

Public Health:
A new virulent epidemic southeast of Kabul has started with the death of five people on August 28th.  Twenty more are violently ill.
Covered this week in FPA Central Asia: a lot of stories on medical aid.

 Special thanks to those dedicated Afghanistan watchers out there, in academia, news agencies, and the blogs–I honor your work. 

Have a great weekend!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Afghanistan, Central Asia Beat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.