US President Barack Obama announced on June 22 that Washington will be withdrawing 33,000 American troops from Afghanistan (currently numbering 100,000) by the summer of 2012, starting with the departure of 10,000 by the end of 2011. Five thousand troops are expected to return home this July, while the rest is scheduled to leave in… [Read more]
The death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the early hours of May 2, 2011, has several noteworthy implications worldwide. The US can claim a very important symbolic victory in the ‘War on Terror’ (admittedly a phrase seldom used these days). Osama Bin Laden shot to international prominence in August 1998, when he was… [Read more]
US President Barack Obama’s decision to replace General Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan raises the question of how the war effort there is likely to proceed under new commander General David Petraeus. BMI’s Tim Cooper talks to Yoel Sano, Head of Political Risk, about the future of Afghanistan.
US President Barack Obama is stepping up the war in Afghanistan by sending an additional 30,000 American troops there in the first half of 2010, on top of the 68,000 already there. Other Western countries have around 40,000 troops in Afghanistan. Soon, the Western troop deployment will exceed peak Soviet occupation levels of 110,000-120,000 in… [Read more]
Pakistan is one of the most geopolitically important countries in the world today, and how it evolves will affect a whole range of strategic issues. These include: The future of political Islam The fate of Afghanistan The spread of nuclear weapons The economic development of South Asia The development of energy resources in Central Asia… [Read more]
Afghanistan has featured prominently in the Western media of late, mainly because of a sharp increase in Western troop deaths. But presidential elections to be held on August 20 also merit attention. Having just written an extensive report on Afghanistan for Business Monitor Online, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts. If you are… [Read more]
