Afghanistan

Afghanistan – and America’s Exploding SIGAR

The Pentagon’s $800 million spent on Afghan economic development has “accomplished nothing,” says the intrepid gumshoe hunting down waste, corruption and inefficiency. Meanwhile, he has 322 investigations still underway, across the US government’s similar $120 billion...

What’s Happening in Afghanistan is Absurd

Five American troops moved briskly through the streets of Kandahar, their weapons at the ready. It was not yet mid-morning, and things had already broken down. Separated from their convoy, they were following an Afghan prosecutor to the...

Among the Paynim: Moonlight Sonata- A Lunar Eclipse

“I heard the Afghan crowds in the street. They were all chanting or mumbling,” said my Australian colleague the next morning. “I thought there was some kind of protest underway, but then I realised why. They were all staring...

Conveying Myth: What Still Works, What Doesn’t (I)

No intelligent conservative doubts the necessity of promulgating myth to convey and sustain social values. However, both the physical structure and the rhythms of modern life are different than in earlier times, and this...

Stinger Missiles, Stinger Cocktails

Some 25 years ago this week, a few nervous young men walked hesitantly into a barren,...

The Sun Also Sets: Legacies of Empire

The British broadcaster and ‘household-name’ Jeremy Paxman is the BBC’s most fearsome interviewer. He also hosts ‘University Challenge’ which is easily the world’s most high-brow quiz show; and he writes books and essays of...

Among the Paynim: Afghan Women & Power

Daniel Craig, an actor who plays James Bond as a spiv, demonstrated what many people suspect about British men anyway when he turned up in drag. He protested...

John Willson & The Un-Making Of Savages

Sayyid Bahauddin Majrooh In his fine talk “Was There a Founding?” (reprinted on this site), John Willson warns of "obtuse secularism" making it hard for American students “to connect liberty and...

Among the Paynim: Turkish Letters (1)

Suleiman the Magnificent Anyone wondering how to have fun with history needs to spend a few evenings in the magnificent company of Ogier de Busbecq, whose four long letters written to the Habsburg Court during the reign...

Among the Paynim: Afghanistan in Perspective (Part 2)

(Part 1 can be found here) The Afghan war grows unpopular in a financially stricken America, and every time that US President Obama talks of withdrawal he encourages Afghan corruption. Knowing that...

Among the Paynim: Afghanistan in Perspective (Part 1)

A recent and ill-conceived letter to a conservative magazine suggests that we take a moment to review American involvement in its war in Afghanistan and to dispel a few pernicious errors. The author of the letter,...

Among the Paynim: Doin’ the Camel-Step

It is an ancient and almost forgotten Pushtoon tradition that should be embraced by Americans immediately and enthusiastically. So, consider it a little Christmas gift from Afghanistan. And why not? Like Christians, Muslims also venerate Hazrat-sahib...