Asia burning

The truck drivers who risk their lives everyday in Kabul have a singular important question; why can’t the Americans stop this? Once again Taleban are gaining grounds in Afghanistan and are zeroing in on Kabul. This time they are not confronting or...

As President Bush nears the end of his term, it seems the vow he had made in 2001 to finish off Osama bin Laden will remain unfulfilled. The reason is the Al Qaeda has found a safe haven in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Security...

President Bush seems to desperately want to add laurels to his presidency in its twilight hour. How else could one explain the striking off of North Korea from the terrorism blacklist? It is very likely that North Korea has been supplying nuclear...

What Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte will tell President Bush is going to make him go red in the face. Bush is not used to changing his mind on any issue. On Iraq, he makes daily proclamations that things are improving and that the US will.

Anti-Musharraf forces have won the elections in Pakistan. Both Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif have been at the receiving end of Musharraf's political games. One was thrown into prison, the other was exiled. One can hardly blame them if they now...

The statement by Michael Semple, a UN official arrested by the Afghan government on Christmas Day last year, brings to the fore many vital aspects of the conflict in Afghanistan. First and foremost is that there are many Afghan leaders, not only in..

The US and NATO forces are trying out a new strategy to fight the Taliban. It is arming the innumerable tribes that exist in Afghanistan. It is likely to be quite successful as tribal feelings run deep in the country. The idea is similar to the village.

Mass murderers are crying hoarse to abolish capital punishment. Not really because they are against executions as such, but because hypocritical delicacy demands that such executions are not made public. When the Afghan government wants to bring in...

Pro-democracy riots in Burma have a clear message: people don't want military bondage anymore. But, their demand fell on deaf ears. Military suppressed the revolt with iron hands to continue its stranglehold on power. Well, deaf needs a bang to hear..

Image credit Negroponte might have urged Musharraf strongly to roll back the emergency but the US can do little beyond that. The wily Pakistani general, in a masterstroke, has converted all his cards into aces. Image credit He is again playing on.