Pakistan – Breaking News

A new Afghan nightmare

Ramzy Baroud

When US envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke met with Afghanistan’s "democratically" installed President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Feb. 14, he may have just learned of the historic significance of the following day. Feb. 15 commemorates the end of the bloody Russian campaign against Afghanistan (August 1978-February 1989)

But it is unlikely that Holbrooke will absorb the magnitude of that historic lesson. Both he and the new US President Barack Obama are convinced that the missing component for winning the war in Afghanistan is a greater commitment, as in doubling troops, increasing military spending, and, by way of winning hearts and minds, investing more in developing the country. That combination, the US administration believes, will eventually sway Afghans from supporting the Taleban, tribal militias, Pashtun nationalists and other groups. The latter is waging a guerrilla struggle in various parts of the country, mostly in the south, to oust Karzai’s government and foreign occupation forces. While Kabul was considered an "oasis of calm" – by Jonathan Steele’s account – during the Soviet rule, it’s nowhere close to that depiction under the rule of the US and its NATO allies, who had plenty of time, eight long years, to assert their control, but failed.

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EU should not tolerate Ethiopia’s repression

by Lotte Leicht

On 30 January, European Union policymakers sent a clear signal to Ethiopia: no matter how repressive the government becomes, vast sums of aid will continue to flow. This is emerging as a case study in bad donor policy.

In January Ethiopia’s government passed a law that is an attempt to muzzle local activists and prevent them from scrutinising the government’s human-rights record. Among other things, the new law labels local activists as "foreign" if they receive significant funding from abroad and makes it illegal for these "foreign" Ethiopians to scrutinise the government’s record on human rights, policing, conflict resolution and a range of other issues – even gender equality, children’s rights and the rights of handicapped Ethiopians. It also provides the government with bureaucratic tools to shut down groups the government dislikes.

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The perils of blogging in Egypt

Rannie Amiri

Philip Rizk wasn’t "unlucky" or at "the wrong place at the wrong time." Instead, he found himself quite the deliberate target of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

On 6 February, the 26-year-old German-Egyptian blogger and filmmaker took part in a march with fellow activists belonging to the group "To Gaza," an organization under the umbrella of the Gaza Popular Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

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Reach out for Darfur

Dina Ezzat

Minni Arko Minnawi tells Al-Ahram Weekly that Egypt can be a prime mediator securing comprehensive peace in Sudan
 
Of the many Darfur figures who fought hard against the regime of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, it was Minni Arko Minnawi who signed a peace deal with the Khartoum regime in 2006. And it is Minnawi who now serves as assistant to the president of Sudan.

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