Afghan refugee children returning from Pakistan learn about the dangers of mines and explosives at a UNHCR registration centre in Kabul.
Reuters/Ahmad Masood
Capital punishment is unfairly imposed, innocent people are regularly condemned and it is patently ineffective in deterring crime. So why to states retain the death penalty?
A Syrian refugee flees from ISIS attack.
REUTERS/Umit Bektas
There were more airstrikes against ISIS this July 4 weekend. Most politicians agree that ‘war is the answer.’ But here’s an argument that peacebuilding is the only realistic way to defeat ISIS.
As the US slows down its troop withdrawal and China increases its involvement in Afghanistan, a warning that if the country is to see peace again, foreign meddling needs to stop.
‘The sorest stroke any Cavalry Regiment has suffered at one day’s fighting since the memory of man.’
Scotland forever! – Elizabeth Thompson
From Belgium to Moscow to Helmland: how one battle helped shape how we think of war.
President Barack Obama and his inner circle follow the assassination of Osama bin Laden, which made headlines worldwide but is seemingly unimportant four years on.
EPA/Pete Souza/White House handout
Memories of the killing of Osama bin Laden are fading, but the legacies of al-Qaeda and the war on terror’s many ‘own goals’ haunt us in the form of multiplying threats and lost civil liberties.
Families cross the Euphrates River seeking the relative safety of Baghdad as Islamic State fighters advance with the goal of creating such violence that people turn from the government to any force capable of restoring peace.
EPA/Ahmed Jalil
Islamic State is a project built on solid foundations by jihadist theorists with decades of experience. The savagery of terrorism precedes the next stage of a caliphate that delivers longed-for order.
Afghan women’s rights activists mourn during the burial ceremony of Farkhunda, an Afghan woman who was beaten to death in Kabul on March 22.
REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
The brutal mob attack on a young woman in the streets of Kabul reveals the instability of the Afghan government even after 12 years of US and NATO military support and aid.
Under former president Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan was little more than a ‘vertically integrated criminal organisation’, according to a new book.
EPA/Parwiz Sabawoon
Whether you fear or welcome a challenge to the world’s existing power structure, the main focus of attention is on when China will begin to translate its increasing influence into genuine global leadership…
How many of these do we really need?
Matt Sullivan/Reuters
In his recent budget announcement, President Obama staked out a negotiating position with Congressional Republicans by offering a sense of symmetry: a 7% increase in the military budget to balance out…
A scene of devastation after the Taliban attack in Peshawar.
EPA/Bilawal Arbab
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 130 children. The militants planned the massacre to take revenge on the Pakistan army. They murdered…
Details are still emerging of the attack in Kabul.
EPA/Hedayatullah Amid
Mohamad Azim Husseinzada is one of those warm gentle men whose twinkling smile disarms and draws you in. Of all the staff at Kabul University, he has been the most open and enthusiastic about encouraging…
Hajigak, one of the main routes from Kabul to Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, may contain one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world.
Hadi Zaher/Flickr via CC BY-NC-ND
On October 27, the last international troops closed their military camp in Southern Helmand Province and left Afghanistan, officially ending their combat role after 13 years of fighting. By the end of…
They are all Republicans but do these senators agree on US foreign policy?
Larry Downing/Reuters
The midterm elections have come and gone. After months of speculation, the results were largely predictable. The Republicans solidified their position in the House and took the Senate. A sixth year president’s…
British combat operations have now officially ended in Afghanistan with the handing over of Camp Bastion, the last British military base in the country, handed over to Afghan forces. It was fittingly symbolic…
Hazaras have long been persecuted in Afghanistan, but those returned from countries like Australia are in particular danger of being tortured and murdered.
Wikimedia Commons/ISAF Public Affairs Office
It has been a bad time lately for Afghan Hazaras with Australian connections. In late September, the shocking news came through that the Taliban had tortured and murdered an Australian of Afghan background…
A US Chinook similar to the one involved in the gun battle of Takur Ghar.
Flickr/The U S Army
Three American soldiers* may have died in Afghanistan’s battle of Takur Ghar because of disruptions caused by plasma bubbles – a form of space weather – according to a new study. Space weather is normally…