A. Jamali
A. Jamali is an expert of Afghanistan.
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Articles by A. Jamali
“GODFATHER OF THE TALIBAN” ACCUSES ISLAMABAD OF AIDING TALIBAN INSURGENTS
As Afghanistan's September 18 parliamentary elections draw closer, there are new allegations about Pakistan's involvement in that country's domestic politics. Pakistan has also announced the closure of more than 30...
WOMEN REGISTER FOR AFGHAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION DESPITE STIFF SOCIAL RESISTANCE
Afghanistan's Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) has issued its final list of the 5,805 candidates registered for the parliamentary and local council elections that are to be held on September...
AFGHANISTAN MOVES TO COMPLETE DISARMAMENT AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
On June 30, 2005, Afghanistan concluded the Disarmament Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) process. During the closing ceremony, President Hamid Karzai called the experience a success and symbolically accepted the last...
TALIBAN ATTACKS GROW BOLDER
In the biggest operation since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, last week the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces backed by U.S. helicopters and British jet fighters killed...
AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BLAMES TERRORISTS FOR RECENT ATTACKS
Afghanistan is facing a bloody summer, after the June 1 bombing of a mosque in Kandahar and an attack in southern Afghanistan on June 8 that killed two American soldiers....
TALIBAN FORCES NOW ATTACKING SUNNI LEADERS IN AFGHANISTAN
Yesterday, June 1, a suicide bomber struck the grand mosque in Kandahar City, southern Afghanistan, killing at least 27 people and injuring scores of others. Among the dead was the...
CANDIDATES REGISTER FOR AFGHAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Monday, May 23, was the last day to register as a candidate for Afghanistan's new parliament. The Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) extended the deadline by six days in Nangarhar...
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: The Rise and Fall of an Afghan Warlord
Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (The Islamic Party of Afghanistan or HIA), which once ranked as the most powerful resistance party in the country, is increasingly sidelined and under pressure from various quarters,...
AFGHANS AGAIN HEAR TALIBAN ON THE AIRWAVES
On April 17 a new voice was added to the rather crowded airwaves in Afghanistan: Shariat Zhagh, the "Voice of Shariat." For those Afghans who had all but forgotten the...
OFFICIALS ON BOTH SIDES ADVOCATE U.S.-AFGHAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
There are increasingly strong indications that the United States and Afghanistan are considering a long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. The hints have come from both sides. The latest discussion...
WHAT NEXT FOR THE TALIBAN?
Attempts continue to persuade the Taliban to lay down its arms and join the peace process in Afghanistan. The negotiations, which occur at several levels and at various locations, are...
Technical, Security and Funding Woes Delay Afghanistan Elections
Afghanistan's parliamentary elections have once again been postponed. According to the 2001 Bonn Accords, the elections were scheduled to be held concurrently with the presidential polls in June 2004. When...
TECHNICAL, SECURITY, AND FUNDING WOES DELAY AFGHANISTAN ELECTIONS
Afghanistan's parliamentary elections have once again been postponed. According to the 2001 Bonn Accords, the elections were scheduled to be held concurrently with the presidential polls in June 2004. When...
AFGHAN GOVERNMENT MOVES TO NEUTRALIZE KEY WARLORD
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has appointed General Abdur Rashid Dostum as his Chief of Staff for Military Affairs. The appointment is seen as appealing to ethnic Uzbek demands to have...
NEW ROUND OF DIPLOMACY SEEKS TO ADVANCE SOUTH ASIAN PIPELINE PROJECTS
On February 23 President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan arrived in New Delhi for talks with Indian officials. At the same time, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was visiting Tehran. Among...
BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY VISITS KABUL TO DISCUSS ANTI-NARCOTICS EFFORTS
Afghanistan remains the world's number one supplier of drugs, mainly opium. In 2001 it produced 600 tons of opium, now, post-Taliban, it produces more than 5,000 tons. Drug money constitutes...
AFGHANISTAN FACES ITS UGLY PAST
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) presented its first report to President Hamid Karzai in a ceremony in Kabul on Saturday, January 29. The report, entitled "A Call for...
GULBUDDIN HEKMATYAR: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN AFGHAN WARLORD
Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (The Islamic Party of Afghanistan or HIA), which once ranked as the most powerful resistance party in the country, is increasingly sidelined and under pressure from various quarters,...
KARZAI’S NEW CABINET AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai announced his new cabinet on December 23, almost 50 days after his election as president. His new roster reflects bold steps to exclude the powerful warlords...
KARZAI PLANS TO ABOLISH CONFLICT-LADEN PLANNING MINISTRY
On Monday December 13, Afghan Planning Minister Ramazan Bashardost tendered his resignation due to a controversy regarding his policies toward non-governmental organizations (NGOs). He is the second planning minister to...
KARZAI MUST WALK A FINE LINE IN FORMING NEW CABINET
On October 9, Hamid Karzai became the first directly elected Afghan president, winning by more than 55% of the vote. Seven weeks later, he is still brooding over his cabinet....
Credibility Of Afghan Presidential Elections Already In Doubt
Afghan President Hamid Karzai kicked off his re-election campaign with a September 12 press conference in Kabul. Many of his opponents or their representatives have also begun to carry their...
Karzai Fires Herat Warlord Ismail Khan
On September 11, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai dismissed Ismail Khan, widely known as the "warlord" of Herat province in western Afghanistan. The move came one day before Karzai announced the...
Two Blasts Claim Victims In Afghanistan
Just before 6 pm on Sunday, August 29, a powerful bomb blast shook the DynCorp office in central Kabul. Reports say as many as seven people, including some foreigners, were...
Disarming Afghanistan’s Warlords: Programs, Problems, Possibilities
In mid-July, Afghanistan's interim president, Hamid Karzai, issued two statements that reflected an unprecedented toughness toward drug traffickers and warlords in the country. Karzai summoned most of Afghanistan's reputed warlords...
Afghanistan’s Drug Problem Requires An International Solution
A British parliamentary panel issued a report in late July calling attention to Afghanistan's political fragility. The report warns that "Afghanistan could implode with terrible consequences," unless security is improved...
Karzai Names His Running Mates, With A Surprising Omission
Monday July 26 was the deadline for candidates to register for Afghanistan's upcoming presidential elections. The cut-off date brought several surprises for the Afghan electorate and for the international community...
Presidential Candidates Question Afghan Election Law
On July 22, General Abdur Rashid Dostum, the strongman of northern Afghanistan, announced his intention to run for the presidency. He called his decision the will of the representatives of...
Registered Voters And Women Targeted In Afghanistan
The latest surge of violence against poll workers and other civilians in Afghanistan's eastern and southwestern provinces killed at least 18 people and left more than 13 injured, some seriously....
The Fall Of Ghor: An Omnious Development For Karzai
On June 17, Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province in northwestern Afghanistan fell to the hands of a renegade commander Abdul Salam. The governor appointed by the central government has...
A Shift In U.S. Strategy In Afghanistan? (part II)
The apparent shift in U.S. Afghan policy away from the Northern Alliance and toward the Pashtun-dominated south (see yesterday's EDM) appears to be driven by two factors: internal and external....
A Shift In U.s. Strategy In Afghanistan? (part I)
On April 8, 2004, U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in her testimony before the commission on the 9-11 attacks in the United States, spoke of "a new strategic approach...