by Daniel Pipes*

Why, just two weeks into a 209-week term, assess a new American president’s record on so esoteric a subject as the Middle East and Islam? In Barack Obama’s case, because of:

(1) A contradictory record: His background brims over with wild-eyed anti-Zionist radicals such as Ali Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi, and Edward Said, with Islamists, the Nation of Islam, and the Saddam Hussein regime; but since being elected he has made predominantly center-left appointments and his statements resemble those of his Oval Office predecessors.

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By Douglas Farah*

The case of Khan Mohammed is drawing wide-spread coverage, and rightly so. He is the first known Taliban to convicted of drug trafficking. He was sentenced yesterday to two life sentences.

It was another (along with Viktor Bout, Monzar al Kassar, and other “shadow facilitators”) in a series of successful, aggressive moves by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in tackling not just drugs, but those that use the money to arm those who want to carry out attacks around the globe, particularly aimed at the United States.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

… A U.N. study of suicide attacks documented cases of children allegedly used as suicide bombers by the Taliban … “Most of these children were between 15 and 16 years of age and were tricked, promised money or forced to become suicide bombers.” …

Associated Press, 11/24/08

Here we have yet another one of the many horrors perpetrated by Islamists in their war against civilization — a war to reclaim the Stone Age. But let’s give credit where credit is due: “Afghanistan’s security forces” are also using children as pawns in their war. And in one of the most sickening revelations about Afghanistan, we find from the U.N. study as presented by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that:

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Two men on a motorcycle used water pistols to spray acid on girls walking to school Wednesday in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, blinding at least two of them, military spokesmen said. ….

CNN.com, 11/12/08

Also yesterday in Afghanistan, a “… suicide bombing … occurred near a government building hours later that killed and wounded several civilians, including women and children.” And in neighboring Pakistan yesterday, “Gunmen shot dead a U.S. aid official along with his driver as he left his home in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Wednesday, a senior police official said.”

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By Douglas Farah*

Every once in a while, it is necessary to step back from the abstract world of ideas and see what the ideas actually mean in people’s lives. That is particularly true as the new administration enters and has to think about what the radical Islamist agenda really means to those who live under it.

It is also worth noting the little-noticed support some of the worst parts of the Islamist agenda get from so-called moderate and mainstream Islamist groups who are tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.

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By Phyllis Chesler

The American people are voting in droves today. There are incredibly long lines at all my neighborhood polling sites. Feminists are especially concerned with women’s reproductive rights. They believe that the Democrats share their views.

While this is true, it may be true only for American women, not for women living elsewhere, especially in the Islamic world. … (Continue reading…)

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By Phyllis Chesler

Listen carefully to what they are telling us.

In their countries, if they speak out for women’s rights, they will be imprisoned for twenty years — something that just happened to a young male journalism student in Afghanistan. The Afghan mullahs have accused the judge of being “anti-Islam.” They wanted the young man, Parwez Kambakhsh, hung. … (Continue reading…)

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By Phyllis Chesler

When a woman friend of mine recently called to tell me that she had been offered a well paid position in Afghanistan I told her not to go. When she insisted, I said: “Alright then, you’d better get a gun, learn how to use it, and get psychologically prepared to shoot yourself in case you are captured but not instantly killed.” She was shocked, shocked. And so I continued: “But you might be easily disarmed. Better have a dentist implant a cyanide tablet, (or something more merciful), in your teeth so that you can opt out of the repeated rapes or the video-ed be-heading.” Now, she was silent and listening carefully. I continued. “You may not be held for ransom, so if you absolutely must go, I would request that your do-gooder work be carried out entirely within an American Army base — but please understand, they, too, have been successfully attacked.” … (Continue reading…)

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By Phyllis Chesler

The street had been closed to traffic, the lines were long, the security was tight, the place was packed, and the joint was jumping. No, I was not at the airport or attending an event at the Israeli Consulate–although, these days, more and more places have been forced to adopt Israeli-like security measures. It always starts with the Jews but it never ends with us. … (Continue reading…)

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by Daniel Pipes*

When it comes to a state fighting a non-state enemy, there is a widespread impression the state is doomed to fail.

In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy concluded that victory in Vietnam was “probably beyond our grasp,” and called for a peaceful settlement. In 1983, the analyst Shahram Chubin wrote that the Soviets in Afghanistan were embroiled in an “unwinnable war.” In 1992, U.S. officials shied away from involvement in Bosnia, fearing entanglement in a centuries-old conflict. In 2002, retired U.S. general Wesley Clark portrayed the American effort in Afghanistan as unwinnable. In 2004, President George W. Bush said of the war on terror, “I don’t think you can win it.” In 2007, the Winograd Commission deemed Israel’s war against Hizbullah unwinnable.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

It’s bizarre. We hear all this belly-aching about how awful it was to dump Afghanistan after the Soviets were evicted. And it was awful to leave Afghanistan in the hands of the Mujahideen.

But now we hear that we should abandon Iraq “immediately.” The result would be the same as abandoning Afghanistan: the vacuum would be filled by Islamist terrorists.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Congratulations to My Pet Jawa for asking the right questions about the AP photographer, Basmatullah Naikzad, who just stood there and watched as the Taliban murdered two women. But Naikzad did not just stand there–he also photographed the murder and then made money and gained international credit when AP ran his photo. Perhaps he shared the loot with the Taliban in return for being allowed to take photographs.

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By Phyllis Chesler

The photo arrests my gaze. It instantly haunts me. It shows two Afghan women chatting while sitting on their heels, close to the ground. They are both wearing iridescent light blue burqas. One seems to be clutching a shopping bag. They are about to be shot to death by Taliban fighters who accused them of running a prostitution ring that catered to American soldiers. For good measure, the Taliban also accused them of working for the local governor. According to the BBC here: (Continue reading…)

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By Phyllis Chesler

I lived in Kabul nearly fifty years ago. It was enchanting and dangerous. I lived on a wide and gracious street lined with trees. We had electricity, phones, hot and cold running water, and marble bathrooms. There was a movie theatre and an American-style cafeteria restaurant. Bazaars flourished, mosques shimmered, a thousand (all male) tea-houses thrived. Barefoot boys scurried bearing tea for businessmen all day long.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Reports are circulating that a U.S. Predator drone killed Abu Laith al-Libi, “one of the top al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan,” in Pakistan’s wild-west Waziristan province. al-Libi is one of America’s 12 most-wanted terrorists — well, at least he was. According to the Canadian Press:

… The killing of such a major al-Qaida figure is likely to embarrass President Pervez Musharraf, who has repeatedly said he would not sanction U.S. military action against al-Qaida members believed to be regrouping in the lawless area near the Afghan border. …

Musharraf has been unwilling to clean up Pakistan’s wild-west for his own political reasons. But recently we’ve found out about his true colors, as he either explicitly ordered Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, or passively allowed it to happen (same difference). This man is not the “friend” many of us once thought him to be. It is time for the U.S. to clean up Pakistan’s tribal areas once and for good, with or without the help of Musharraf, for the sake of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and America herself.

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