Back to the warlordsJOHN CHERIANWith the remnants of Al Qaeda and the Taliban hitting at will and little of the promised international aid materialising, the Hamid Karzai government
Masood Azhar Of theology and terrorismPRAVEEN SWAMIMaulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani national who received training in a seminary and preached terror, played a pivotal role in coalescing terrorist grou
Afghanistan War on AfghanistanSUKUMAR MURALIDHARANA Western coalition strikes with full fury at the supposed perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Taking the impact is a nation that has
Al Qaeda Terror UnlimitedROHAN GUNARATNAOn the history, organisation and modus operandi of Al Qaeda, the terrorist organisation founded and led by Osama bin Laden.
Afghanistan Responding with terrorAIJAZ AHMADPresident Bush proposes perpetual war. Will justice be the casualty?
Afghanistan Ahmed Shah Masood: A calculated killingNANDAN UNNIKRISHNANThe September 9 suicide attack on Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood appears to have been a calculated one, for the Taliban clearly did not wa
Afghanistan The terror trajectoryPRAVEEN SWAMIThe U.S., India and the global linkages of Islamic terrorist groups.
The Northern playersB. MURALIDHAR REDDYThe Northern Alliance, which has regained control over Kabul, is a coalition of disparate forces with a human rights record not substantially better t
In a quagmireSUKUMAR MURALIDHARANFour weeks of air strikes having taken it nowhere near its military and political goals in Afghanistan, the United States steps up the destructive pow
Afghanistan The New War Against TerrorNoam ChomskyHere the 73-year-old polymath addresses five "closely related" critical questions raised by the current international crisis focussed on the U.S.-led
The Arab dilemmaKESAVA MENONin BahrainThe Arab world may not be as pro-Taliban as it is against the military operations but is unable to reverse the course of the war.
Afghanistan Into a crucial phaseSUKUMAR MURALIDHARANAs the military action in Afghanistan enters a crucial phase with the induction of ground forces, the U.S. apparently begins desperate moves to secure
Inside the TalibanAHMED RASHIDDefections from the Taliban should not be taken as a sign that the movement will crumble easily.
The Afghan quagmireJOHN CHERIANAt the best of times, Afghanistan was among the poorest countries. Now, after two decades of Cold War conflicts and Taliban torture, the nation starts
The battle rages onJOHN CHERIANrecently in TashkentThe Northern Alliance forces led by Ahmad Shah Masood are now close to Kabul; their plan is to encircle it and dictate terms to the retreating Taliban
Refugees and politicsAMIT BARUAHrecently in SydneyThe John Howard government's decision to turn away a group of Afghan asylum-seekers, made with an eye on the coming elections, prompts criticism from
Freebie phobia: The BJP’s concerted attack on redistributive transfers Although the BJP is against ‘freebies’ in principle, in practice it has been forced to use a version of concessions and transfers to counter the o
SlideshowLiving on the edgeThey are river people, whose lives ebb and flow with the waters of the Brahmaputra in a timeless rhythm. But now, hydroelectric projects and homogenis