MER Article The Shape of Afghanistan to Come On a cold January morning, Uzbekistan opened its first mission in its battered neighbor to the south with as much ceremony as weary Afghanistan could muster: generals were in uniforms, bureaucrats in Western suits and delegates from the rugged hinterland wore their traditional pakul. Anthony Shadid • 3 min read
MER Article Victims of Circumstance It was 3 am in Qala Niazi when the drone of US bombers rumbling through the night sky awoke villagers sleeping off a night of festivities last December 29. Within half an hour, a storm of sound and fury unleashed by the warplanes had ended, and the hamlet was no Anthony Shadid • 11 min read
MER Article Descent into Disaster? On October 19, 2001, Iran agreed to build camps to accommodate new refugees fleeing US bombing and internal chaos in Afghanistan. This was the first piece of good news for relief workers concerned that Operation Enduring Freedom is accelerating the descent of Afghanistan's decades-old refugee crisis Margaret Emery, Hiram Ruiz • 5 min read
MER Article Afghanistan in the Balance In the first few days after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it became clear that the United States was going to seek out allies in the region to assist efforts to destroy al-Qaeda bases and networks of support in Afghanistan. Very quickly that objective was expan Patricia Gossman • 16 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Winter 2001) The hijackings and mass murders of September 11 were horrible and momentous, but the world did not suddenly change on that crystal-clear morning. Existing cracks in the US-led world order widened and deepened, and lurking insecurities strode forth from the shadows. Chris Toensing, Elliott Colla • 9 min read
Current Analysis Solutions Not Imminent for Afghan Displaced and Refugees The collapse of the Taliban in northern and western Afghanistan in November was good news for aid workers seeking to get food and other necessities to war- and drought-affected Afghans. Expectations of greater security, of an end to US bombing in many areas and the opening of new supply routes from Hiram Ruiz • 6 min read
Current Analysis Pakistan, "Pro-Taliban Elements" and Sectarian Strife In Western media coverage of Pakistan, political Islam and its jihadi offshoots—the "pro-Taliban elements" who pop up in reporting—have become regrettably synonymous with Islam and Pakistani Muslims in general. Pakistani Islamists, like their compatriots elsewhere, do advocate for an Islamic state, and jihadi groups in Pakistan Yunas Samad • 7 min read
Current Analysis Aid Drops in Afghanistan In the wake of the military offensive against Afghanistan that began October 7, the United States is settling in for what appears to be a long-term campaign. As the Bush administration selects its next military targets, some five million people inside Afghanistan who depend on international food aid for survival Jeff Drumtra, Margaret Emery, Hiram Ruiz • 6 min read
Current Analysis Afghanistan's Refugee Crisis Over the last two weeks, an estimated 15,000 Afghan refugees have fled to Pakistan, and hundreds of thousands more are reportedly on the move within Afghanistan. This latest flight of Afghans from their homes deepens a humanitarian crisis that has troubled the region for more than 20 years. Already, Margaret Emery, Hiram Ruiz • 7 min read
Current Analysis Pakistan's Dilemma Pakistani media reports indicate that on the evening of September 14 the president, General Pervez Musharraf, met with his cabinet and national security team in a marathon session lasting until the early hours of the next morning. The task at hand was to decide if the Pakistani government should accede Kamran Asdar Ali • 6 min read
Current Analysis Afghan Girls' Struggle for Schooling When the first snows started to melt in March, schoolchildren in towns and villages across Afghanistan put on fresh uniforms, strapped satchels across their backs and headed off for a new semester. Despite disruptions in education from more than twenty years of fighting and civil war, education remains a high Jeanette O'Malley • 5 min read
MER Article The Taliban, the Shari'a and the Pipeline Underlying the appearance of the Taliban movement, first of all, are factors internal to Afghan society, in particular the discrediting of the government and the “commandos” born out of the resistance to Soviet intervention. The rapid expansion of the militia, culminating with the conquest of Kabul Olivier Roy • 8 min read
