This Blog is intended for use by students in the Islamic Middle East course at Northfield Mount Hermon School and guest students and teachers from other participating schools.
The war on terror, writes Dexter Filkins, will be decided in the tribal frontier areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Dexter Filkins, “Right at the Edge,” New York Times Magazine, Sept. 7, 2008
More on the Taliban
More on Al-Qaeda
See:
Carlotta Gall, “Taliban Gain New Foothold in Afghan City After Attack, New York Times, August 26, 2008
More on Afghanistan
More on Taliban
The New York Times, in its lead editorial today, comments on the seriously deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
Go to editorial
In a review that captures well the current conflicts, political patterns, moods, and failures throughout much of the Middle East, Raymond Bonner looks at a new book by esteemed Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid.
Raymond Bonner, “War in Progress,” New York Times Book Review, August 10, 2008
The book: Ahmed Rashid. Descent Into Chaos: The United States and [...]
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is alleging that Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is linked with militants. See: Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, “C.I.A. Outlines Pakistan Links With Militants, New York Times, July 30, 2008.
ISI support of militant jihadist movements is not new or surprising. The same could have been said of the CIA in [...]
The Taliban, exploiting the relatively lawless border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, have been regaining ground in both countries. Earlier this month, they broke into a prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Today, the New York Times is reporting, they are positioning themselves to take over the city of Peshawar in Pakistan.
Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, [...]
A Northfield Mount Hermon colleague today called my attention to a recent case in Afghanistan where a student was sentenced to death for downloading a report on women’s rights.
Story from The Independent
See the BBC feature piece on the leaning minaret of Jam in Afghanistan.
Go to story.
The February 2008 issue of National Geographic magazine is running an article on Afghanistan’s mostly Shiite Hazara people.
BBC Middle East