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The U.S. president also indicated that Washington will continue supporting the stalled peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which began last year but failed to even turn out a framework or agenda. “We will support peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, facilitated by the United Nations,” Biden said. But Marvin Weinbaum, a former Afghanistan Pakistan intelligence analyst for the State Department, is not optimistic. He said the withdrawal decision will set in motion events that might lead to the disintegration of the Afghan government, inc...

Damned either way, Biden opts out of Afghanistan as US tires of ‘forever wars’ Julian Borger in Washington © Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images Joe Biden has decided that 20 years is enough for America’s longest war, and has ordered the remaining troops out no matter what happens between now and September. Biden’s withdrawal is one area of continuity with his predecessor, although unlike Donald Trump, this administration consulted the Afghans, US allies and its own agencies before announcing the decision. But both presidents were resp...

In Afghanistan, any US president is damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Biden has plainly decided in that case, “don’t” is the better option. In the Obama administration, Biden was a consistent voice of scepticism over the utility of military force in foreign policy, sometimes in opposition to advocates of humanitarian intervention. He bluntly told a television interviewer on the campaign trail that he would feel “zero responsibility” if the status of Afghan women and other human rights suffered as a consequence of a US withdrawal. “Are you telling me ...

Human rights defender denied civilian court trial On 28 January 2021, the Peshawar High Court denied Idris Khattak’s appeal to be tried in a civilian court and confirmed that the hearing take place in a military court. There is very little information that has been shared with his lawyers or family as to where that case stands, with military courts in Pakistan notoriously shun transparency, due process and human rights. His whereabouts remain unknown; however it has been recently disclosed that the espionage charges relate to a meeting between Idris and a diplomat in June 2009, well over a...

Islamabad, Pakistan – A Pakistani court has granted police custody of Muhammad Ismail, the father of a prominent Pakistani human rights activist, on “terrorism” charges that rights groups say are part of a sustained campaign of harassment. The court in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar granted police custody of Muhammad for three days during proceedings on Wednesday, his daughter, Gulalai Ismail, told Al Jazeera. The 66-year-old had been arrested a day earlier at a bail confirmation hearing. Gulalai, a prominent and award-winning women’s rights activist, is a leading member of ...